It started when one prisoner fainted during the morning inspection. A few days later, the same thing happened to another woman, and soon three more. All of them were kept in complete isolation, without contact with others, never allowed on group walks, confined in locked cells for nearly a year.

The medical staff, after examining the women, spoke a sentence that sent chills through Block Z: all of them were pregnant, each at a different stage.

It was impossible. The cells were completely sealed, all guards were female, no men had access, and surveillance was constant.

The prison administration reviewed all records from the past months: movement logs, reports, surveillance footage — everything appeared “perfectly in order.”

The prisoners themselves did not understand why they were being called for questioning. They only repeated:
— We knew we were pregnant. We want our children.

But from where? How?

No one had an answer.

The investigation reached a dead end until one of the investigators requested additional documents from the prison hospital. And it was there that the horrifying truth was revealed.

The documents showed that the women of Block Z had been victims of an illegal experiment. Several years earlier, the prison had contracted with a pharmaceutical company supplying drugs allegedly intended to treat hormonal disorders. In reality, these substances stimulated fertility and could induce pregnancy without male involvement.

The experiment targeted specifically women considered “extremely dangerous” and completely isolated. The doctors the women saw were complicit: the documents contained their signatures and detailed reports on “observed effects of the drugs on the reproductive system.”

Surveillance footage from the past six months showed no “unusual activity”: all guards followed the rules. No men entered the block. Yet the recordings regularly showed medical staff bringing drugs, syringes, and files. Every procedure was disguised as a routine medical check.

The shock deepened when it was revealed that the effects of the experiment were unpredictable. Some women experienced extreme fatigue and weakness, others sudden mood swings and intense anxiety. Only after thorough examinations did it become clear that their bodies were reacting to artificially induced pregnancy stimulants.

One prisoner, Marina, told investigators how she felt a strange mix of fear and joy for months. She could not understand why her stomach was growing when she had never had contact with a man. Other women experienced similar emotions: a combination of shock, fear, and a powerful maternal instinct.

The prison administration tried to cover up the scandal, but it quickly became impossible. The information leaked to the media, shocking the public. No one could believe that in the 21st century, such experiments were being conducted on women in prison.

Legal and ethical questions arose immediately: how could people deprived of their freedom be used for manipulation of their own bodies?

The investigation continued, now under international scrutiny. The women’s rights had been severely violated, and experts demanded immediate compensation. The women of Block Z became symbols of horror, where human lives were treated as laboratory objects.

Psychologists began working with the prisoners to help them cope with the emotional shock. Some women experienced, for the first time, both fear and joy at once: children were growing inside them, symbols of strength and resilience despite the horrific conditions.

The story of Block Z revealed that even closed and strictly controlled systems are not immune to human greed and soulless science. While the investigation continues, the women who were victims of this experiment live with the knowledge that their bodies were used as tools and their lives as experimental data.

Each pregnancy in Block Z has now become a symbol of both horror and hope — horror, because it was the result of a cynical experiment, and hope, because human life demonstrated incredible strength, even under total isolation.