Kara katorga

George Kennan noted in 1885, "The mines of Kara, which are the private property of his Imperial Majesty the Tsar, and are worked for his benefit, consist of a series of open gold placers."

The first rich lode, suitable for exploitation was found in 1838, giving rise to the Lower Kara Field (Нижне-карийский прииск).

The Katorga administration decided to abolish them, that in combination of harsh treatment of the women convicts, resulted in hunger strikes in protest.

She was Nadezhda Sigida, a 27 year old convict arrested in 1886 for being a member of Narodnaya Volya and establishing an underground printing shop in Taganrog.

As a consequence, the political prison of the Kara katorga was closed, and the use of corporal punishment against imprisoned women and dvorians was abolished by the law of 28 March 1893.

[citation needed] Russian artist Nikolay Kasatkin (Николай Алексеевич Касаткин) painted the picture Kara Tragedy (1930).