Maria Alyokhina, an imprisoned Pussy Riot activist, works at a school in the penal colony where she’s serving her sentence in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod Region.

      As her lawyer says after visiting her in prison, Maria's work concerns the preparation of methodological materials and other tasks. He added that Alyokhina was in high spirits and very satisfied with her work.

      Alyokhina was sentenced to two years in prison last August on hooliganism charges for participating in a so-called punk prayer protest against Vladimir Putin’s return to the presidency. The unauthorized performance by the balaclava-wearing punk rockers took place in Moscow’s main cathedral in February 2012.

      Alyokhina was originally sentenced to serve her term in the Ural’s Perm Region and earlier this month was transferred to a penal colony in the Nizhny Novgorod Region, which is crossed by the Volga River. She has filed appeals for parole on two occasions, but both of them were rejected by courts.