Hierarchy in the torture chamber of Correctional Colony No. 2 in the city of Pokrov: corner guards, shniri and caretaker-bosses

Omitted

(also
“screwed”, “outcast”
[1],
“offended”
[2][3][4][5][6],
“rat-catcher”
[7],
“rooster”
[7][6][8 ][9][10][11],
“fuflyzhnik”
[7],
“comb”
[11],
“daisies”
[6],
“pinch”
[11],
“goat”
[12][11],
“ schmuck"
[11],
"popper"
[11],
"waffler"
[6][13], "
blue
"[14][6][8][10]) - a concept of criminal jargon, denoting a person occupying the lowest a step in the prison hierarchy[9][15][16][17][18], a passive homosexual[6][10][13] or a person with whom homosexual sexual intercourse was forcibly committed, usually for gross violations of prisoner ethics[ 2][5][6][13][19][20].

Story

There are different points of view on the prerequisites for the appearance of “omitted” people in the criminal environment.

A. K. Voronsky’s autobiographical book “Beyond Living and Dead Water” provides evidence of the existence of the “omitted” in pre-revolutionary Russia. In the Vladimir transit prison, the author of the book met several passive homosexuals sleeping under bunks, one of whom was called “Marusya.” The prisoners treated him “with disgusting contempt.” They paid for it with “kopecks, shag, tea, sugar, beatings”[21].

Human rights activist V. N. Chalidze arose in the 1930s and 1940s due to the fact that young children, starting from the age of twelve, were sent to prison, forced into homosexual relations.[22]

According to other data, the “omitted” appeared in the late 1940s and early 1950s due to the desire of recidivist criminals to maintain their dominant position in the prison environment by any means: from beatings and murders to committing violent acts of sodomy. This made it possible to morally humiliate the disobedient in the eyes of other prisoners. V. T. Shalamov recalled that next to each thug all the time there were “young people with swollen, dull eyes: “Zoyka”, “Manki”, “Verka” - whom the thug feeds and with whom he sleeps.”[23]

In the early 50s in Dalstroy (Kolyma), as reported in the certificate of the Deputy Prosecutor of the Magadan Region G. M. Sazhin to the Secretary of the Magadan Regional Committee of the CPSU T. V. Timofeev, during an inspection of the Chaun and Chaun-Chukotsky ITL, on the initiative of the deputy head of the camp Lieutenant Colonel Varshavchik in the camp department of the village of Krasnoarmeisky in 1951, the so-called “Brigade No. 21” was created, which consisted of representatives of the “Suki” camp group with syphilis. In those cases when, during the “holding,” prisoners from the “Thieves” group did not go over to the side of the “bitches,” they were sent to brigade 21, where they were raped and infected with syphilis. Thus, the “lowering ritual” was already at that time actively used by the administration in some camps to deal with unwanted prisoners[24].

D. A. Koretsky and V. V. Tulegenov point out that, nevertheless, the most widespread development of sodomy in places of deprivation of liberty and an increase in the number of “let go” occurred in the 1980s, when, due to the complexity of labor organization, the use of prisoners in economic labor stopped. work of third-party organizations (contractor work), which entailed the inability to use the services of prostitutes and make acquaintances with female construction workers working at nearby sites. Deprived of female company, prisoners began to satisfy their sexual desire at the expense of the “lowered ones.”[25] In addition, they note that at present, the attitude in the prison environment towards the “omitted” has significantly improved compared to the 1980s, since the use of dishes with a special mark and the allocation of special places for the residence of this group of convicts have ceased. Of the 50 “neglected” people under their supervision, only 5 people (10%) engaged in homosexual sexual intercourse.[26]

Origin of the term

Today the word “shnyr” is perceived as an element of informal vocabulary. In fact, it appeared in Tsarist Russia and initially had nothing to do with the criminal world. The origin can be traced to the verb “snoop” (or “snoop”), which means fussy walking back and forth, the desire to find out something about other people’s affairs, quickly moving the gaze from one object to another.

Before the abolition of serfdom, a “shnyr” was a courier, a messenger who could quickly deliver a message tens of kilometers away. At different times, the word was used to refer to servants who carried out any errands, and shoemakers.

Terminology

See also: Prison castes

The concept denotes a person who was declared a representative of a lower caste in penitentiary institutions of the USSR, and later in the post-Soviet space. It is usually believed that prisoners who enter into homosexual contacts in a passive role (voluntarily or forcibly) are declared “left out”, although in practice this is not entirely true - a prisoner who has not entered into such contacts (in this case, the prisoner can often “prove” his non-belonging to a given caste). Every prisoner who has had at least one homosexual encounter as a passive partner is declared desolate. All concepts: “offended”, “rooster”, “fag”, “lowered”, etc. mean a representative of the lower caste of prisoners, but their meaning may differ slightly. There are no established rules for the use of this or that word; in some sources these concepts are used as complete synonyms, in others the difference between them is indicated. For example, in the book “Everything about Life in Prison” [27] it is indicated that “omitted” is a prisoner who forcibly or voluntarily became a passive homosexual, and “offended” is a representative of this caste who has not entered into homosexual contacts. In other sources, these groups are called, respectively, “pierced” and “unpierced fagots,” “working cocks” and “forshmaki,” etc.

Despite the fact that people declared “lowered” are lower than all other prisoners in the unofficial prison hierarchy, among them there is also a stratification into chief petukhs

(
"dad"
,
"mom"
) of a higher position, who force their fellow sufferers to do the dirtiest work, mock them, etc., and simple "lowered ones".
The “chief roosters” are often former “authorities” who have been taken to the roosters for some kind of misconduct or “jamb.” This is especially often observed where the administration of a zone or prison collects them in separate detachments or cells ( “offenders”
,
“cock huts”[28], “harems”, “nunneries”[29]
).

Currently, the phenomenon has gone beyond places of detention and has spread to the army [30] and orphanages.

Shnyr: other meanings

What does the word "shnir" mean? If we do not take into account the criminal argot, then we can additionally mention the following possible translation options for this word:

1. In ancient times - a messenger (messenger), shoemaker or servant.
2. During the Soviet Union - unemployed, gossip or petty thief.
3. In modern times - a person with drug addiction (shirk - drugs), citizens with a low-skilled profession (janitors, cleaners).

So, who is this jailhouse snoop? This article helped us see his characteristics: the convict is a cleaner of a prison cell and other premises in a correctional institution, who does not hesitate to perform such low-honorable public work.

Lowering

Lowering decision

(translated into
omitted
) is accepted at the “bazaar” (gathering of authoritative prisoners);
in some cases, they are transferred to roosters “without a bazaar” (that is, based on the very identification of the relevant fact: child rapists, homosexuals, former police officers). The cockerel
being lowered is raped, often with the entire cell[31].
Before rape, the person being lowered to suppress resistance is often beaten[32] or strangled with a towel until he is semi-conscious; sometimes, in order to avoid being bitten during oral sex, the front teeth are knocked out (for example, using dominoes)[31]. However, to be transferred to the lower class, rape is not necessary; in many cases, a ritual action is performed on the prisoner: they pass the penis across the lips[33][34] (“finish”[35]) or along the buttocks (“on the rolls”[33]) , pass a towel stained with sperm over the lips[16][34] or anus[16], urinate or masturbate on the face (“paraffinized”), force you to drink or pour water from a bucket[16], put on a bucket with a piece of bread[16] , rubbing a slipper over the lips, etc. Sometimes a decree from “authorities” is enough to consider such and such a prisoner a “rooster.” After this, the prisoner is considered released. To designate someone who is depressed, sometimes they are forcibly given a tattoo: an image of a rooster or the devil, bees on the buttocks[13], a dot above the upper lip[13] (the prototype is a tattoo of a fly, which was worn by prostitutes in the 17th-18th centuries[32]), the word fag
, a sign ring with two dark triangles and three dots separated by a white line[13][32].

Sometimes a prisoner who has committed a serious offense can himself move to the lowered, without waiting for the inevitable punishment (for example, by moving things to the rooster corner of the cell).[10] In this case, no additional procedures are performed. Because it is from those forcibly “removed” that the administration in the “red” institutions forms the so-called. active collaborators of the administration who are sent to solve operational problems. Often these “accomplices” carry out reprisals against authorities. Another reason for refusing to “lower” is that the sanction for group violent acts of a sexual nature according to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ranges from 4 to 10 years (Part 2 of Article 132 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

According to thieves' concepts, a person can be lowered

(make omitted) only for very serious offenses, for example:

• Informing (“informing”)[10][13][19] and cooperation with the administration of the correctional institution (“goats”)[7][36][37][38], especially unspoken.[5][39] In addition, people who have relatives among law enforcement officers may be excluded.[37][38]
• Theft from other prisoners (“ratting”)[7][5][10][19][13][39][37][38] (theft from other prisoners[5]) While theft of property belonging to not being a prisoner or being free at all is considered valor.
• Gambling debt not returned on time (“bullies”)[7][5][10][40]; sometimes the conditions of the game may directly stipulate that the loser becomes a rooster, which can be used for provocation when a prisoner, still unfamiliar with prison customs, is offered to play something “for nothing”, “for bullshit” (both expressions imply that the loser pays with a point, and ignorance of this is not an excuse)[41]. Another way of provocation is to treat the newcomer to food and then demand payment. But at the same time, the deceiver himself risks falling into deception.
• Lawlessness[5][10][13] - gross violations of thieves' "laws" (for example, beating and lowering other prisoners in the "press hut" on the instructions of the prison administration)[10][36]. At the same time, lowering without sufficient reasons is considered to be “lawlessness” in itself, and those who committed it are themselves subject to lowering. However, the status of those who were deported “by lawlessness” does not change because of this [ style
  ], although the attitude towards them is usually better than to other roosters - they are not beaten, they are not forced to do dirty work, or provide sexual services (especially if the prisoner was deported due to instructions from the prison authorities, for example, for refusing to cooperate with the investigation).
• Those excluded include those convicted of rape[10] and other sexual crimes[42][13] (especially indecent acts committed against minors[2][5][10][19][43]). For murder or causing grievous bodily harm to children and adolescents.[5][37][38] At the same time, D. A. Koretsky and V. V. Tulegenov note that today there is a tolerant attitude towards persons who have committed a crime against sexual integrity or sexual freedom.[38]
• Former law enforcement officers (who for some reason did not end up in special zones) are released.[13] Soldiers of the Internal Troops may be omitted.[5]
• The omitted ones also include pigs
  [13] - prisoners who, due to dementia, somatic diseases or old age, do not take care of themselves, do not wash, or dress sloppily.[37][38]
• Touching things that have been touched by a caste
  or are found to have semen on them during a homosexual act may also result in transfer to the caste of the
  caste
  .
  In some areas, someone who touches a taboo object must eat a bar of soap to avoid becoming omitted
  . In addition, a prisoner who spent the night in a “cock” cell automatically becomes “lowered”, even if he did not eat anything or touch things there.
• Persons of homosexual orientation who entered into contacts in a passive role[37][38] (“roosters”[7]) automatically become omitted in the zone[44] if their cellmates know about it, but active homosexuals do not fall into this category [11] and often use it themselves; but a heterosexual who has committed any sexual acts unworthy of men (from the point of view of thieves’ “concepts”) (for example, cunnilingus) can also be transferred to roosters. As a rule, the vast majority of those who are omitted
  are men of heterosexual orientation. No prisoner is required to tell others about his sex life while out.
• There are also cases of voluntary transition to “lowered” prisoners with homosexual sexual orientation or those seeking to gain material benefit by engaging in homosexual prostitution.[13] Although no more than 20% of the “omitted” are such.[44]

In the dictionary Complete accentuated paradigm according to A. A. Zaliznya

snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping

Share the meaning of the word:

Attitude towards the omitted

The “omitted” are the lowest caste in the prison hierarchy, which predetermines their position in places of detention in relation to other prisoners: the “omitted” have no rights, only duties and prohibitions.[16]

Many taboos have been created regarding the “omitted”, and new ones are constantly appearing, and the prohibitions themselves are different in different types of prisons. For example, in the so-called In "young children" the taboos are especially cruel and numerous (it is believed that most of the "outcasts" are declared as such in the "young children"), in adult prisons (especially high security) there are not so many prohibitions, and the situation of people declared outcasts is better (for example, in In high security prisons it is not customary to beat those who have been released for no reason, for fun).

Those “lowered” in a prison or zone do the dirtiest work: they wash toilets, take out buckets, service garbage pits, work as shop cleaners, stokers, stokers, loaders, and laborers.[6][10][11][16][39] You cannot touch them (with the exception of homosexual contact), or take any things from their hands, drink or eat with them from the same container, or finish smoking cigarettes after them.[10][11][16][45][39 ] There are special sinks for “lowered ones”, which are sometimes marked with paint. They eat “lowered” from dishes that have a hole drilled as a mark.[6][10][45] They sleep near the bucket or in a specially designated place for them (“cock’s corner”).[6][11][39] They are not allowed to touch anything.[10] If the “rooster” receives a food parcel, other prisoners do not have the right to touch it. “Omitted” are obliged to give way to prisoners from other castes, while pressing tightly against the wall; Be careful not to get within three steps of them. Conversations between “omitted” prisoners and other prisoners unless absolutely necessary are not encouraged; Although conversation without physical contact is not taboo, a prisoner who communicates with the “lowered” risks losing authority and being rejected.

Once in the caste of the lowered, it is impossible to get out of it, since membership in the “roosters” is not influenced by the behavior of the prisoner, or the time that has passed since the lowering, or breaks in the prison “experience”, or even the recognition of the lowering of this “rooster” as not corresponding to criminal law. "concepts". When transferred to a new place of detention, the “dismissed” is obliged to immediately inform other prisoners about his status, since hiding his affiliation is useless and dangerous: the rest of the prisoners will sooner or later find out about this (from other prisoners, from questioning, by the presence of traces of tattoos, etc. .), and the consequences will be the most serious (including murder).[10][46]

The use of the words “lowered”, “cock” (as well as derivatives and related words: [47] “cocked”, “cock”, “petya”, “cockerel”, “bird”, “chicken”, “comb”, “ chicken coop") addressed to a prisoner who does not belong to a given caste is a grave insult that can lead to any consequences, including the ouster of the offender and even death. Telling someone to “fuck you” is equivalent to such an insult. The one who called another “rooster” or sent him away is asked to substantiate his accusation, and if he cannot do this, the insulted “receives” from him. However, nowadays these concepts are not observed so strictly, and “three letters” are sent quite often with impunity. On the other hand, a prisoner who is called a "rooster" and does not "ask" for such an insult becomes himself a candidate for "omitted", since he is considered to have agreed that he is a "rooster". Therefore, prisoners try not to use the words cock

,
omitted
to avoid consequences (“to fall into something incomprehensible” [47]), and they do not even use the word “to be offended,” replacing it with the word “to be upset.”

In different zones there are different traditions of sexual “use” of the omitted. In some zones, “working roosters” are required to have sexual intercourse with other prisoners at their request; if the “rooster” refuses, they are beaten or raped.[32] According to the right concepts, this is considered “whoredom”, and rapists are subject to “lowering”; sometimes this leads to the fact that the “rooster” has to “serve” several dozen people a day. In other zones, “roosters” are “used” only with their consent. The “rooster” is obliged to take the sperm into his mouth [48] or rectum, so as not to “grind” any object or another prisoner. After sexual contact, it is customary to pay the “omitted” person with several cigarettes, a can of condensed milk, a piece of sausage, etc., since such payment turns sexual intercourse with the “cock” into prostitution.[49] A prisoner who does not pay the “omitted” person risks incurring suspicion of committing a homosexual act “for love,” which could end badly for him. “Working roosters” are often given female names (Sveta, Masha, Tanya, etc.), hence the names of this entire group of prisoners “Mashki”, “Dunka”, etc.[11]

Some "low-downs" (especially young men with good looks) become personal passive partners of someone occupying a high position among the rest of the prisoners.[11] In return, they receive protection from their patrons from bullying and dirty work, sexual advances from other prisoners, and also receive payment for sexual services provided in the form of things valuable in prison (condensed milk, cigarettes, etc.) However, they are still declared human at the lowest level among other prisoners and with the loss of patronage, they return to the very bottom of prison society.

According to the famous Russian human rights activist, member of the Human Rights Council under the President of the Russian Federation Andrei Babushkin,

The tradition of Soviet and Russian prisons is to treat people not only of non-traditional sexual orientation, but also survivors of sexual violence, as people not even of the second, but of the twenty-second... The situation is complicated by the fact that among this category of prisoners there are many people who are mentally ill, broken, who need moral and psychological support, and not further depression. It must be combated using methods from the arsenal of cultural rather than administrative influence... This phenomenon can be defeated by influencing the prison subculture itself. That is, to convey to all prisoners that a person should be assessed for how he thinks and what he does, and not for his sexual orientation...[50]

In Dahl's dictionary

and south zap. Thumb. novg. to snoop, meddle, rush quietly and fussily back and forth; run and scout, look out, ask at hand; snoop around, bol. run, but snoop, creep. Snoop where, from where, sneak, leave, hide, slip away. Bees and flies are still scurrying around. Krylov snoops up and down between people. Stars dart across the sky, falling. He snoops around everywhere, he needs to know everything. Snooping, snooping, action according to the verb. Shnyra vol. shnyr, shnyr m. symb. Vologda creep, sly, rascal; | spy, spy and gossip. Snooped about. Same. Sneak around chickens. resin snoop around, meaning search, hunt for something, find out at hand, find out. Shnyrok m. dive or hole, loophole. Hive splint, entrance. Ladders from the stove into the stove bench, openings for the passage of flame, burnouts. Sneaky, sneaky, thieving, sly.

Notes

1. Starkov, 2010, p. 206.
2. ↑ 123
   Gurov, 1995, p. 187.
3. Starkov, 2010, p. 174, 206.
4. Dubyagina, 2008, p. 77.
5. ↑ 12345678910
   Godunov, 2008, p. 65.
6. ↑ 12345678910
   Shumarov, 2011, p. 504.
7. ↑ 1234567
   Starkov, 2010, p. 174.
8. ↑ 12
   Abramkin, Chesnokova, 1993, p. 261.
9. ↑ 12
   Klein, 2000, p. 135.
10. ↑ 12345678910111213141516
    Abramkin, 2008.
11. ↑ 123456789101112
    Vorokhov, Isaev, Stolyarov, 1990, p. 94.
12. Starkov, 2010, p. 122, 174.
13. ↑ 12345678910111213
    Deryagin.
14. Godunov, 2008, p. 63.
15. Gurov, 1995, p. 192.
16. ↑ 12345678
    Abramkin, Chesnokova, 1993, p. 272.
17. Abramkin, 1998, p. 255.
18. Guseinov, 2003, p. 285.
19. ↑ 1234
    Lysak, Cherkasova, 2006, p. 40.
20. Baldaev, 1997, Omitted - a person over whom an act of sodomy or other defamatory actions was committed, p. 292.
21. Under escort - Behind living and dead water - A. Voronsky (undefined)
    . trst.narod.ru. Access date: April 29, 2021.
22. Koretsky, Tulegenov, 2006, p. 110.
23. Koretsky, Tulegenov, 2006, p. 111.
24. Sazhin G.M.
    Certificate on the results of the investigation into gross facts of violation of socialist legality by employees of the Chaun and Chaun-Chukotsky ITL of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR. // Almanac “Will”. - M.: Return, 2008. - No. 10. - P. 19-29.
25. Koretsky, Tulegenov, 2006, p. 111-112.
26. Koretsky, Tulegenov, 2006, p. -112.
27. Vitaly Lozovsky. All about life in prison
28. Lysak, Cherkasova, 2006, p. 87.
29. Lysak, Cherkasova, 2006, p. 81.
30. Klein, 2000, p. 588.
31. ↑ 12
    Koretsky, Tulegenov, 2006, p. 120.
32. ↑ 1234
    Vorokhov, Isaev, Stolyarov, 1990, p. 95.
33. ↑ 12
    Dubyagina, 2008, p. 80.
34. ↑ 12
    Baldaev, 1997, p. 292.
35. Hukka, 1992, p. 63.
36. ↑ 12
    Abramkin, Chesnokova, 1993, p. 18.
37. ↑ 123456
    Antonyan, 1991, p. 6.
38. ↑ 1234567
    Koretsky, Tulegenov, 2006, p. 113.
39. ↑ 12345
    Shurukhnov, 1992, p. 80.
40. Shurukhnov, 1992, p. 79.
41. Games in prison // Vitaly Lozovsky. How to survive and make the most of your time in prison
42. Marzakanov, 2004, p. 4.
43. Kleymenova, 2012, p. 35.
44. ↑ 12
    Abramkin, 1998, p. 256.
45. ↑ 12
    Baldaev, 2001, p. 162.
46. Abramkin, Chesnokova, 1993, p. 18, 272.
47. ↑ 12
    Abramkin, 1998, p. 257.
48. Baldaev, 2001, p. 135.
49. Abramkin, Chesnokova, 1993, p. 146.
50. You can't sit like that! The terrible truth about Russian prisons through the eyes of a member of the Human Rights Council
51. The ECHR will consider a complaint about the concept of thieves in Russian prisons // BBC Russian Service, 06/01/2015
52. The ECHR will consider a prisoner’s complaint about the “thieves’” concepts operating in Russian prisons // NEWSru.com, 06/02/2015