Vahdat is the location of a prison which included those convicted of terrorist crimes, mainly associated with membership in Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) and the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT). In 2019, a prison riot saw three guards and 29 inmates killed, 24 of whom were said to be Islamic militants. One of the those killed was Behruz Gulmurod, a son of Gulmurod Halimov, previously a commander of Tajik Interior Ministry special forces who joined ISIS/ISIL in 2015.
