The main castes in a Russian prison

People who find themselves in prison are forced to live in harsh conditions and in the constant presence of others - in all countries this gives rise to a rigid hierarchy among prisoners. And since the Gulag was an unprecedentedly large-scale and cruel prison system, the hierarchy of “castes” of prisoners that emerged in these Stalinist camps and prisons was very harsh. Even in modern correctional institutions, more than half a century later, there is a division of “inmates”, which came almost unchanged from the Gulag.

Blatnye

These are kings in the prison hierarchy, above thieves only thieves in law. But there are several hundred thieves, and tens of thousands of thieves. They are the ones who “hold” the zone or prison. Thieves usually don’t work, but in any case, an official position in the zone is a waste for them, otherwise transfer to a “goat” is inevitable. Any position on the outside that is in one way or another connected with service (taxi driver, waiter, hairdresser) serves as a ban on obtaining the status of a criminal in the zone (in prison). Those who have completed military service cannot become thieves either. The thieves have the right to spend money from the “common fund” for “targeted” needs – bribery, “heating up”. They also sort out intra-prison conflicts “by concept” and assign punishment to those responsible.

What is the difference between “men” and other “prison colors”

Those “registered” in places of deprivation of liberty (hereinafter referred to as MLS), in addition to the thieves in law themselves, are conventionally divided into 4 main colors, each of which corresponds to a specific color - thieves are called “black”, men “gray”, goats “red”, and omitted - “blue”. Hierarchical advancement in the zone and in prison, by and large, is only possible downwards - a prisoner deprived of his status loses it irrevocably.

“Men” are the most numerous and very isolated caste of prisoners. These are prisoners who, unlike thieves, according to thieves' standards, are allowed, moreover, are required to work. The right “man,” at the same time, does not cooperate with the prison or camp administration and does not occupy any positions appointed by the “owner” - the head of the prison (zone) - this is considered a waste. If a “man” is appointed, for example, as a supply manager with his consent, the thief in law is obliged to reduce the status of such an appointee and transfer him to “goats” (“red” - those who cooperate with the authorities).

“Men” may have their own authorities, who have a certain influence even on thieves. But the “men” prefer not to get involved in prison-Zonov’s showdowns, honestly stretch out their sentences and wait for release. However, they try to adhere to prison rules - otherwise you won’t survive behind bars.

The tolerant attitude of thieves in law towards “men” is explained by a number of reasons. Firstly, representatives of this color make up the bulk of prisoners in MLS; these “workhorses” perform most of the labor duties in the production areas of any prison or zone. Accordingly, the life of the correctional institution as a whole largely depends on the normal functioning of industrial zones in the MLS.

Secondly, there is a hypothesis that in the hungry 30s and 40s, the “men” seriously supported the “thieves in law” with their “rations” and took the side of the thieves in the bloody war with the “bitches” (thieves in law who are armed fought on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, which is prohibited by the code of thieves).

However, any “man”, like a representative of a different suit, can in the blink of an eye change his “role” for his behavior (for making a “joint”) - move down the hierarchical ladder one, or even several steps down. A thief in law will never “lower” himself - for this there are prisoners of a lower rank.

The first thing upon “arrival” in the zone is that a “man,” like representatives of other stripes, must “name himself”—that is, introduce himself as to who he is “in life.” There is no point in lying to thieves - the prison telegraph is not Russian Post, information about a person enters the zone very quickly. For the “rotten bazaar”, the thief can order and “put down” the inventor. By the way, even the thief in law himself can be translated into “men” - for this, an equal in rank (another thief in law) must hit the offender on the ears. In the same way they are transferred to “muzhiki” and thieves.

“Men” in the zones are kept apart from other categories of prisoners, and there is nothing humiliating in this if representatives of this caste comply with thieves’ (prison) laws.

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"Goats"

Those who cooperated with the “owner” (the MLS administration) - supply managers, commandants, etc. In the “black” zones, where thieves hold the upper hand, the “goats” can even be isolated from the rest of the prisoners. In the “red” MLS, the “goats” have regime breaks and other privileges that distinguish them from other convicts. The phrase “you will answer for a “goat”” is from Zonov’s lexicon: calling a person a “goat” in prison if he is not one is a grave mistake, for this there must be an immediate “answer”, otherwise the person called in reality risks being transferred to the rank of “goats” "

“Reds”, aka “goats”

This was the commonly used name for prisoners who collaborated with the camp leadership, received encouragement from the guards and a public (or secret) right to disciplinary action on all other categories of inmates. The “goats” included everyone who received any administrative or bonus position in the camp - these were people who could have access to food in the kitchen or, for example, to the distribution of clothing. Even if the occupation did not involve the opportunity to snatch something, but freed one from heavy general work, the person in this job was considered a “goat.”

There were also various disciplinary and “educational” detachments from among the prisoners in the camps - these were the “reds” in the classical sense. They reported to the guards about various violations of discipline and in general about the affairs of prisoners; they could indulge in physical abuse or help ensure that someone was punished according to the camp rules.

Of course, the so-called “goats” were not respected, and for any other prisoner being considered a “goat” was considered a grave insult. But these people still had power - they were feared and were not accepted in the community of “thieves” or “men” as one of their own, since the camp leadership itself stood behind them.

Although during the period of the “bitch wars” (the last decades of the Gulag’s existence), many “thieves” defected to the “Reds” (some ideologically, some simply for reasons of security or profit).

"Roosters" or "drooped"

The lowest caste in the prison hierarchy. Not to say that they are numerous in percentage terms with other stripes, but the “low-down” can also include the down-at-heel convicts – “stuff” who don’t take care of themselves, aren’t washed, are dirty dressed. “Chushko”, like “roosters”, are shunned in the zone and their place is often also near the bucket. "Rooster", strictly speaking, is a passive homosexual. Either a “blue” (regardless of the active-passive position), who came as such from the outside, or an “offended” one already in the zone. The “roosters” do not have any rights in the zone; they are outcasts, from whom the other inmates try to distance themselves as much as possible - the “blues” have their own dishes with a hole and their own place closer to the toilet. All the dirty work in captivity - washing toilets, maintaining garbage pits and much more - is done by the "lowered". The word “rooster” and its related words - “chicken”, “chicken coop”, “comb” and all the others that are in some way connected with this bird - are very offensive towards a particular convicted person, they immediately require accountability , otherwise this status, just like with the “goat,” may stick to the prisoner, and irrevocably.

"Guys"

Numerically, this category always surpassed all others, since it was the main “gray mass” of the contingent in camps and prisons. By the way, that’s what they were called – “grays”. These are people who were mostly convicted of single, often very insignificant, crimes: petty theft, domestic fights, etc.

And given the specifics of the Stalinist judicial system and the practice of convicting people on “political” charges, the “men” category included representatives of the intelligentsia, people with “wrong” biographies, and many others. etc. That is, this definition did not characterize the social layer from which these people came (common people), as their name might suggest, but the function and social role that they received in the camp.

The men went to all types of work, they were not entitled to special privileges. If one of them ended up in a more advantageous position in the camp (for example, a kitchen worker or a librarian), he might no longer be considered a “man”, but considered a “red”.

“Sixes”, “shnyri”, “woolen” and “fuflyzhniki”

“Schestyorki” are servants, weak-willed people who are ready to carry out various kinds of instructions for a handout. Of course, no one respects the “Sixers”, since in the zone it’s every man for himself. The classic type of “sniff” is Blotter in the film “The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed,” and he has a nickname that matches his suit. The “shnyri” serve the thieves; in fact, they are the same as the “sixes”. In the absence of an “object of worship” they can easily be transferred to “omitted”. “Wool” are lawless people, either of their own free will or at the instigation of the “master”. Often these are thieves who behaved inappropriately. “Wool” “correct” prisoners are usually cut up or transferred to the category of “roosters”. “Buflyzhnik” - “who has made bullshit”, “bluffed” - a convict who has not paid in a timely manner for his loss in gambling for fun. Card and other debt in the zone is a sacred matter, so the fate of the insolvent “fuflyzhnik” is unenviable.

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"Omitted"

This is definitely the lowest caste. Common names for such people were also “blues” or “roosters.”

Among those “omitted” were people of non-traditional sexual orientation (and in the legislation of that time there was a criminal article for this). Also, former police officers, representatives of government agencies and similar workers were often “released” into the camps themselves. But it also happened that among those “left out” there were other people: for example, informers (informers), or those who did not pay off a gambling debt, or simply weak-willed, “broken” people.

Still from the film "Mayhem"

The “roosters” were assigned the worst and dirtiest types of work; they were allocated only the worst places in common cells. No one was supposed to touch their personal belongings (usually the set of these items was limited to clothes and metal utensils); for this purpose, marks were even made on the items - a bowl and spoon were sometimes marked with holes. The “lowered” ones themselves were also not touched, they were not spoken to (only commands and demands were voiced), and a person noticed in the slightest contact with the “rooster” or his things became “rinsed” - not yet “lowered”, but as if under suspicion.

There was, of course, the practice of homosexual violent relationships with “roosters”: the “low-down” had to serve the “thieves” and sometimes “goats”. Between “men” and “roosters” such a practice was rare. This was considered intra-camp prostitution - for each such act, the prostitute was given a meager reward.

During some periods of the existence of the Gulag or in individual camps, additional castes of prisoners sometimes arose. For example, during the Second World War and in the post-war years, the camps were filled with “warriors”—deserters from the front, suspected of collaborating with the enemy.

“There were global clashes”

“I would not say that Muslims establish their own rules in the colonies, as is often said,” says Igor, who is currently serving a sentence in a maximum security colony in Mordovia. “It’s just that no one bothers them, they try to stay together.” There are Muslims, but I don’t know whether they are radical or not. This is the first time I’ve heard that such zones are called “green”. Honestly.

He called in the evening. While we were talking with him, we could hear the voices of other prisoners who, judging by snippets of conversations, were getting ready to drink tea.

"Correct" prisons

All criminals know that deviating from the laws of thieves faces a terrible retribution. Therefore, in the “black” colonies there is peace and grace for everyone who follows these laws. The authorities in power do everything possible to ensure that their “wards” have a good life. They establish a connection with the will, and for special merits they can even smuggle a cell phone into the zone. The administration turns a blind eye to prohibited things, alcohol and drugs in “black” prisons.

They also turn a blind eye to the fact that prisoners do not carry out the work assigned to them. For example, in the “black” zone, prisoners do not clean the area and refuse to wash their cells. However, this is a small price to pay for the fact that in the “black” colonies there are practically no murders or fights, unlike the “red” and “green” zones. Today there are fewer and fewer “black” prisons. But on the contrary, there have been more “greens” over the past few years. And the orders in them are somewhat different from the zones of other colors.

The Russian FSB gathers graduates of the Syrian camp “Caucasus Emirate”

Turning to religion in prison, confirms Denis Sokolov from RANEPA, is a common phenomenon. However, only Muslims manage to oppose themselves to both adherents of prison rules and guards. “Jamaat is both physical protection and protection from humiliating customs. Islam allows them to somehow reconcile themselves with reality and remain human. At the same time, we are not necessarily talking about recruitment or something illegal,” he says. In fact, becoming part of the jamaat is the only way for a Muslim to escape in prison.

At the same time, the colony continues to be an ideal place for creating extremist cells. “Sometimes people appear in the cells who can be seen preaching some kind of radical sermons, the operatives try to put them in other cells, but it is clear that this does not always work,” says a Kommersant source from the FSIN. One of the most high-profile such cases dates back to 2012. Then it was reported that the convicted Valery Ilmendeev, who ended up in the Ulyanovsk penal colony No. 2 for extremism, began actively recruiting cellmates. He let them listen to the sermons of Said Buryatsky (one of the militant leaders in the North Caucasus, killed in 2010), showed them videos of the banned Caucasus Emirate, and distributed extremist literature. Valery Ilmendeev is a member of the so-called Ulyanovsk jamaat, a group whose members were sentenced to long terms in 2006. They are responsible for robberies, kidnappings and murders, as well as the spread of extremist ideas. Another member of the same cell, Dmitry Timofeev, was transferred to penal colony No. 8 in Buryatia in 2009. As one of the former prisoners of this colony told Kommersant, at first he behaved rather inconspicuously and did not communicate with others. “In 2013, a sudden flow of Caucasians, Asians, and even one Egyptian began to enter the colony,” he recalls. “Timofeev immediately joined them, they organized a prayer room for themselves. When I left, he was an orderly at the gym. All day long they pumped iron with their brothers and discussed something, but ordinary prisoners couldn’t get there.”

Threat name

The isolation of Muslims in colonies and pre-trial detention centers makes both the prisoners themselves and law enforcement agencies very nervous. “For example, I was shocked when in 2011 in Butyrka they took me for a walk, and the whole yard was screaming and rejoicing. It turned out that Colonel Budanov was killed,” recalls another convict. As representatives of the Federal Penitentiary Service say, the institutions of the penitentiary system are well aware that there are more and more Muslims in the cells, which means that work needs to be done with them. According to the department, there are 61 mosques and more than 230 prayer rooms in colonies and detention centers. There are more than 950 “official” Muslim communities in penitentiary institutions alone; they include about 9 thousand Muslims, to whom the mufti from the Spiritual Administration of Muslims comes to read sermons.

Some Muslims are not inclined to trust the “official” clergy, while not being supporters of radical Islam. They prefer to exist separately in zones. According to Denis Sokolov, the FSIN somewhat exaggerates the relevance of IS for Russian prisons, believing that recruitment will definitely take place there. At the same time, a former convict from the Buryat penal colony No. 8 recalls how his cellmate, convicted of robbery, told others in 2014 that he would soon be released, and during his time in prison he realized that he needed to go to Syria to join the anti-Assad forces. However, it is unknown how many Russians among IS supporters went through prisons and pre-trial detention centers in their homeland. “Special services prefer not to stop recruitment in order to have an agent network,” says Mr. Sokolov, “but their leadership risks losing control over prisons.”

Grigory Tumanov

Terms applied to prisoners

Most often, concepts such as prisoner and prisoner are used to detainees.

Zek. This term appeared in the late 30s. It was used in official documents as “s/k”. The etymology relates to the term "canal army prisoner". It first appeared when the White Sea-Baltic Canal was being built.
Inmate. A prison inmate is a person who has served his sentence in special places and has been released. Most often, after serving their sentence, inmates are released from prison, and they only have a criminal record status.

After serving a sentence, everyone begins to have problems finding a job, because not all employers want to hire a former prisoner.

Also, former prisoners are controlled by the district police officer; they regularly need to come and check in. After some time, the status of a criminal record disappears, but the one who was in prison will always remember this. After all, in prisons there are certain laws that you have to get used to, no matter how much you want to. All prisoners must adhere to certain rules and traditions of the prison environment. Everyone has to do them, no one can dodge.

Real prisoners respect the laws of prison life and live “by the rules”; they try to do everything correctly in order to avoid punishment from other prisoners. After all, everyone knows that prisoners are sometimes merciless. We hope that after reading the article, you will no longer have a question about who the prisoners are.

Who are the prisoners now?

Arresters are the same prisoners, and therefore persons who were arrested as part of the suppression. Also, a prisoner can be considered a person who has been deprived of his liberty by a court verdict and is serving his sentence in a specialized place, which is considered a colony, pre-trial detention center, prison, etc.

Current legislation relates this concept only to those who have been taken into custody, that is, suspects and accused. Persons who are already serving a sentence are called convicts.

What are the zones?

There are two types of zones in Russia:

Reds.
Black.

In red zones, the administration retains full control over all areas of the prisoners’ lives. In the black zones, orders are established by authorities from the criminal caste. The administration usually does not interfere in affairs between prisoners, except in situations where they are clearly breaking the law and this violation has serious consequences.

Sometimes they also talk about gray zones, in which both systems are mixed. In this case, each specific prison may differ significantly from others in its order and conditions of detention for convicts.