Figure 2.

A strict prison hierarchy regulated life in men’s prisons. Both the hierarchy itself and the people who enforced it were referred to as the obshchak (lit. “common fund”). The hierarchy was governed by the vor (lit. “thief,” a member of the gang known as the “thieves-in-law”). Enforcing the vor’s wishes was the obshchak, consisting of deputies, overseers, and enforcers of the system’s strict laws. Among the rest of the prison population, the hierarchy consisted of the poryadochnye (lit. “the decent ones”), followed by the neputi (lit. “the ones who lost the way”) and obizhennye (lit. “the ones who have offended”). One could move between hierarchy classes, except for the obizhennye, who were permanently relegated to that category, often for crimes seen as especially heinous (for example, paedophilia or homosexuality). Incarcerated people in different levels of the hierarchy followed strict rules that outlined when and how they could interact.