Sun-seekers at an abandoned forced labour camp: Rafał Milach’s best photograph

It had become a favourite spot for Estonians to swim and relax in - even though the perimeter fences, watchtowers and barbed wire were still there'

It was August 2016 and I'd been travelling for weeks, documenting the decaying borders between the Baltic states. Before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, there had been little in the way of physical demarcation between Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. But after the collapse, each nation had built up its borders, until the creation of the Schengen Area, when the need once again faded away. I went to photograph what remained.

After the seizure of the Baltic states by the USSR, a maximum security prison had been established by the quarry at Rummu. The area was turned into a secure compound, where the incarcerated were used as forced labour. Post-USSR, the prison was closed and the pits flooded. Although the land is privately owned, over time it had become a favourite spot for residents and visitors to swim and relax in.