It seems as if Russian prisons were a laboratory of sorts-- now the mass suffering is being exported. It should have at least stayed in it's own country. Should have been uprooted instead of indulged, a few developers punished perhaps, a few higher ups investigated then slapped on the wrist or shuffled around and the same abuses happen again and again, too much of a pattern for it to be a coincidence, for it not to at least be an accepted thing if not systematic and approved of by the authorities.
If not a deliberate laboratory then one that was studied or at least learned from to create more suffering in order to suppress, crush those who resisted the regime. Terror, a threat to keep others in line. Perhaps not even concerned about "leaks" from prisons about the abuses because its an unspoken fear-- you don't want to end up in a russian prison (though with arbitrary arrests and injustice you may not be able to help it).
Then this pattern exported to Ukraine where with no oversight and "justification" of fighting "nazis" (=/anyone who doesn't want to be russian, wants to escape the dehumanizing system) they are doing as much, similar, and probably much worse things. To crush people's spirits and to instill fear in the occupied population. If you collaborate, you're safe from being electrocuted, beaten, raped, cut up.