Lonely Sydney activist tells of her 'prison coma' in Russian jail "I tap on the wall of my cell, Camila taps back and I'm reminded I'm not alone": Greenpeace activist Alexandra Harris. Photo: Denis Sinyakov/ Greenpeace Alex Harris, the 27-year-old Sydney resident and Greenpeace activist who remains locked in a Russian jail, has written of tapping on the wall of her cell to communicate with fellow prisoner Camila Speziale to relieve her loneliness. Harris and 29 others, including Tasmanian radio operator Colin Russell, were seized with their ship, the Arctic Sunrise, by Russian special forces on September 19 after a failed attempt to scale an offshore drilling rig north of the Arctic circle. Ms Harris, a Briton who had been working in Sydney, and Ms Speziale, a 21-year old Argentinian, are being held in adjoining cells in the northern Russian city of Murmansk. Torturous: Alex Harris' letter describes the difficult circumstances of her Russian imprisonment. In a letter to her Australian Greenpeace colleagues, Ms Harris describes ""losing track of time"" as the group enters their sixth week of captivity. ""The days are blending into one"" she writes. ""The 25th day is just as tortuous as the first."" She adds that ""when I am feeling low I dance; I also tap on the wall of my cell, Camila taps back and I'm reminded that I am not alone."" Ms Harris is allowed outside for a brief period every day but writes that the northern winter is closing in and ""when I go outside my toes go numb ... the falling snow flakes on my face awaken me from my prison coma."" She says waking up to ""steel bars digging into my back, facing the same four green walls"" is the hardest part of the day. Greenpeace Australia says Canberra is not doing enough to agitate for the release of the group - dubbed the Arctic 30 - compared with efforts being made by some other nations. There are 19 different nationalities among the detainees. British Prime Minister David Cameron raised their plight in a phone conversation with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, and German leader Angela Merkel has also flagged concerns directly with Mr Putin. The French government has done so at prime ministerial level. Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop says she has twice raised the matter with the Russian Foreign Ministry and that Mr Russell is getting all possible consular assistance. Ms Bishop's office said her department was ""currently managing more than 1300 active consular cases around the world"." The 30 Greenpeace crew-members and activists were initially charged with piracy, to which charges of hooliganism have been added. Either offence carries a jail term in Russia. So far bail has been denied. One hope for the group's release is a case which the Dutch government brings on Wednesday before the German-based International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. The Dutch are asking the tribunal to order the release of the crew and the Greenpeace vessel, which sailed under a Dutch flag.