Translated material
"The one who is below" must be worn "
"The one who is below" must be worn "
How prisoners fall into the lower caste and live in the status of "untouchables"
On January 25, 2024, Doxa was recognized as an “unwanted organization”.
If you are in Russia or plan to return to it, you can not replace our materials on social networks, refer to them and publish quotes.
Read more about what is possible and impossible, read in the cards .
An informal caste system has existed on the territory of Russia at least since Stalin. It operates in every institution, and it supports the vast majority of prisoners and cooperation. There are “thieves” and “tramps” that interpret the laws of the criminal world and version the fate of other prisoners; There are “men” - the largest caste where they observe the “thieves' way”, but, as a rule, do not claim high roles; There are “red” - prisoners, cooperating with the administration or performing work on household services. The most powerless, lower caste is “offended”, they are “roosters” or prisoners “with low social status” (ATP), as they are called in the official documents of the FSIN.
Often you can encounter the opinion that “offended”, or, as they often say at large, “lowered,” are homosexuals or those who have subjected sexualized violence. Former political prisoner Ivan Astashin talked with a person who served his time in the status of the “offended”, with his wife of another person with such experience and with the former political prisoner Konstantin Kotov about how much this folklore corresponds to the real situation and why the prison hierarchy has maintained its strength for at least a century.
Editor
Editor
Ivan GeorgievIllustrator
Illustrator
Stasya BububuPublication
March 29, 2023
How prisoners find themselves in the caste of "offended"
Everyone can get into the caste of “offended”. Almost everyone. Former prisoner Sergey The name changed told us that he was among the “roosters” because he did not hide what Kunnilingus did. According to the unwritten rules, which to this day exist in the Russian prison, Kunnilingus, like many other sexual practices, is considered “dirty”, “dishonorable” and automatically makes a person “rooster”, that is, the prisoner finds himself in the lowest caste.
Before the interview, when I explained to Sergey why I want to talk to him, he wrote to me the following: “In fact, this is nonsense. All these cunts. Everyone did. Only pussy [which he did not]. And kissed with a woman who sucked a dick. Only allegedly does not know about it. ”
By the time of the transition to the “offended” status, Sergei was sitting in the cell of the pre -trial detention center for several months and managed to make friends with cellmates; It seemed to him that you could joke and talk about anything. “Somehow they were joking, they joked,” Sergey recalls. - Well, two people began to ask me: "Halled the envelopes?" - "What are the envelopes?" “Well, like this [cunnilingus].” They seemed to joke, hee-hee, haha. They said, not Rezh, we will not tell anyone. And when I said that yes, I did, the other person turned in our direction: “Are you, a fool? Do not try to say this when we come to the camp.” There was also another person, all such a black Strictly observed the concepts of the criminal world. Moving. He began to boil right away, say that it would not leave it. He said that if we are asked for this, he will also fall into question. They immediately make noise to other huts, and there they were told what to do with me. Well, that’s all, so they “skated” me. They put it from themselves. "
Another example is a political prisoner Pasha The name is changed . His wife is Olya The name changed says that he got into the caste “offended” with the filing of the security forces: “The security forces informed other prisoners about his bisexuality in order to exert additional pressure. And when he left the quarantine, prisoners working at the administration took up the administration. They spoke to him. During the conversation, they convinced him that he was better not to deny these facts. As they said, “unevenness in life”. They convinced him that he himself would probably be more comfortable, more conveniently that he would communicate more with people who, unlike many other prisoners, do not share homophobic views. So it happened. And as Pasha said later, he really turned out to be more comfortable in this environment. ”
When asked about whether there were representatives of the LGBT community among the “offended” in their camp, Sergey replies: “It was not. The only case, but I do not know who he is [in the sense of sexual identity], but he liked it. He went out - but this is only firsthand - and there he was engaged in his, so to speak, sexual affairs with men. "
It happens that they become “lowered” as a result of violent actions, which, as a rule, are performed by the security forces themselves or other prisoners, at their instructions. I personally met two people who shared such experience. One "lowered" in a pressata Press Kata-a camera in which prisoners are specially collected with the administration-they have a physical and psychological impact on those who are placed there. The pre-trial detention center of Kansk, due to the fact that he refused to give confessions in the criminal case. The other was “lowered” as a punishment: he escaped from the pre-trial detention center of Achinsk, but was detained in Tomsk, and after delivering it back to Achinsk, apparently raped in a pressata.
In addition to directly sexualized violence, they can “lower”, simply touching a member or dousing urine. Although in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, where I spent most of the term, the latter did not always automatically mean the transfer to the “offended” caste.
In other cases, including Sergei and Pasha, the transition to the “offended” status occurs without ritual sexualized violence, but simply declared by other prisoners, if they found the basis. It is believed that a person has already “lowered” himself if, for example, he did cunnilingus, as he was indirectly in contact with a member. I heard that among minor prisoners there is even a special term for those who kissed the woman who made a blowjob - “self -command”.
"Where am I against five to six people?" "Offended" in jail
When the cellmates in the pre -trial detention center decide that one of them is “offended”, this person is usually transferred to another camera. The FSIN is informed about the change in the status of the collaborates, the “offended” either his cellmates, and the administration sets herself “offended”. However, Sergey, after he was “determined”, was kept in the same cell for some time. The cellmates forbade him to eat at the table and touch their dishes and products: according to unwritten rules, everything that the “offended” touches, acquires the same properties. That is, the use of dishes of the “offended” threatens the translated from other castes into “roosters”.
“We ate all together before, there was a common dish, a common common fund. They took cigarettes from me ... And here it is just out of the blue once - and that’s it, ”Sergey recalls. - They explained that otherwise, when they arrive at the zone, they would be determined where I am. They just sat on a point with the whole crowd, or rather, one put everyone on the point. Although they could simply be hungry: they joked and joked. But the funniest: the person who was the most boiled as soon as he arrived at the zone immediately He became “knitted”, that is, “red”. . Right in the very first days! It became so funny to me from this. I thought, here you are a bitch: I was sitting there, yelling “yes, yes,” and you take a little step further - you stop by right under the red flag You begin to cooperate with the administration. . And you, bitch, just drowned me in this shit. I hated this person for the whole time. Because of him, all this happened. Others more adequately reacted somehow: they apparently understood that they did this too [cunnilingus], since they were ready to hush up it. ”
We talk about Russia's military invasion of Ukraine, protests and repression. We believe that now, when dozens of media have closed or ceased to cover the war, access to independent information is more important than ever.
Over time, the attitude to Sergey in the cell began to change for the worse. After traveling to the courts, the cellmates learned from other prisoners the “rules” of how the “roosters” should live in common cells. “[One said], you have to eat on a push, you must lie under the bed. They began to drive any garbage, - recalls Sergey. - It was hard for me. I myself am a person not super conflict and not particularly self -confident. Where am I against five to six people? They simply began to wet me verbally in the crowd - I was silent. ”
Then Sergey was still transferred to another camera, where only the “offended” sat. Moreover, this happened at the request of the prisoners themselves “with reduced social status” - they actually helped Sergey avoid further humiliation in the common cell. “When I began to go to the stage [to court], he met a man there - he was the same. This is not the first time he is sitting. He began to tell me how he himself got here. Well, he says: “Let's take you to your place, fuck you sit with these morons?” He explained everything to me. And over time, they took me to their camera. ”
Several times I myself had to sit with “offended” in common cells. Although they were forbidden to approach the table in all cases, the rest of the attitude was completely dependent on the inhabitants of the camera and the personality of the "offended" itself. For example, my cellmate, who was “omitted” in the pressata of the Kansky pre-trial detention center, came to our cell from the EPT, that is, the colony administration repressed him as a “malicious violator” and sent him to the torture EPKT-31 . And in this situation, no one emphasized that he was “offended” - he was more likely to be compassionate and even respectfully, because sending to the EPCT A single room of the chamber type is a special institution where they can be transferred for a period of up to one year for a “malicious violation” of the regime in the colony. - This is a kind of quality mark for prisoners: it means that a person is “really rushing” against the regime.
"The administration is afraid to shake the regime." "Offended" in the camp
The “offended” camp may be contained in a separate hut or separate section, in the case of placement in the same room with other convicts, their sleeping places are next to the exit. In addition to the habitats, the life of the “offended” in the colonies is characterized by the fact that they are offered the most “dirty” and hard work that convicts from other castes cannot do in accordance with “concepts”.
“In fact, a lot of things in the colony are decided by the administration itself,” Sergey argues about the reasons for the existence of a caste system in the colonies. - The administration supports all these “thieves' concepts”. I believe that there should not be such a division [prisoners into castes]. If there are disagreements between some groups, then these people should be determined in different detachments and to different places in production, without understanding who is offended, who is red, green and so on. But the administration goes towards the total mass called “men”, because he is afraid to shake the regime. The administration does not want riots, it simply will not be able to cope with so many people. Suppose the total mass - one and a half thousand people in the camp: of which a thousand “men”, 150 “roosters” and 350 different so -called “red”. Of course, the administration will follow the mass of the mass that is more, because there can be more problems from them. ”
At the same time, Sergey notes, the FSIN receives the benefits of the existence of a caste system: “It is easier for them to force those people who have a low status among the prisoners themselves. This one is below. So, the one who is below should carry shit. ”
The wife of political prisoner Pasha says that in his colony the “offended” is also loaded with additional work, but Pasha himself protects the status of the political prisoner. “We had a conversation some time ago about the hypothetical situation with cleaning toilets or something like that. I understand that specifically they are not sent to such work. But they can send prisoners, more loyal administrations. ”
About the life of the “offended” in the Pokrovskaya IK-2 tells the political prisoner Konstantin Kotov: “They did all the most dirty work, washed toilets. We still had such a specific feature in the hut of the reinforced regime: you do everything there with the permission of the day A prisoner responsible for the order in the detachment appointed by the administration. . For example, you had to ask for permission to go out to the toilet. But the most interesting thing is that you were not alone in the toilet. There, another convicted person was always present with you, just from the “roosters”, who literally watched how you celebrate natural need. As I understand it, this was motivated by the fact that one of the convicts can commit self-mutilation. In this case, the roosters performed the supervision function. They ate separately, that is, in the canteen of the common they had a separate dining table, even individual windows, where they received food separately from all. ”
When asked about the possibility of not going to work that the administration defined for the “offended”, Sergey answers as follows: “There were no special sanctions. Do not want to work - either sit in the detachment, or go to the SUS The strict conditions of the content, the isolated part of the colony, where the "malicious violators of the regime" are placed. . Why did I go to work? I needed money, I had to eat for something, drink, smoke. I was not going to sit on someone’s neck, ask, beg. I am an adult guy who needed money. Yes, the work is darkened, but to make a blasphemy? At home, in the same way, you are cleaning. But for someone this is unacceptable. Some even at home they can’t remove the toilet: wife, mother clean up for them. It is unpleasant when your work is treated in a hamian: when a herd of fuckers arrives with another colony and simply pigs on every corner. And you tell them, you say - and fuck everyone. Whatever circle you live - in red, in green, in black - this is disrespect for work and to man. ”
"There are such directly nitsy nits that do not consider us for people." Relations between castes
Olya says about the attitude of other prisoners to Pasha in the camp: “They didn’t have a gesture, but unpleasant moments took place in his communication with other people. For example, there was a situation in the room on the industrial zone, where you could go through some hole in the grate. And Pasha put his things on the bench directly opposite this lattice: either he did not know what they went there, or did not pay attention. And some kind of convict wanted to use this tunnel. And instead of saying to Pasha: “Please take things, I want to go through,” he began to tell him in a rough orderly tone with an accent on his status. There are individual characters who believe that they can talk like that. In the end, Pasha did not remove things, of course. That convict himself shoved them, and then they had a brawl in which Pasha prevailed. After that, other prisoners called him to show off, where Pasha said: yes, of course, this dude is wrong, but it is forbidden to raise his hand “status” to others. You should go to us in this situation. This, of course, is an uncomfortable situation that throws more challenges. Periodically, he had some kind of brawls. But in general, oddly enough, it all ended for him always good. ”
Konstantin Kotov says that "everything depends on the person." “If it was clear that someone got there by chance, behaves quite normal, then he, of course, received some help and support from the rest. Still, no one cancel human relations even in such conditions. But if someone, from the point of view of other prisoners, fell into this caste for business, a different attitude towards him. ”
Sergei says that different convicts were different about the “offended”: “There are such directly nits that do not consider us for people. But there is the opposite: both “red” were normal, and “men”, but units, really. But there are still more negatively configured. You really feel this negativity very much and try to stay away from all this mass. Because there, a little that, immediately begins: “Who are you in life? Yes, go to the dick.” A person is just so weak that he begins to crush, they say, if you are lower than him according to criminal concepts, then you should almost a dick on their knees, roughly speaking, of course. I had it many times. ”
At the same time, according to Sergey, the “roosters” themselves could eventually beat the particularly odious “men”: “There were such cases that they directly scored“ men ”because they got into“ roosters ”. And the funny thing is that the beaten did not get into the “roostseter” later, although he was pulled out in the toilet and dropped there. ”
In the camp, I watched that the “offended”, as a rule, themselves literally shunned other prisoners, for example, pressed against the wall when someone was walking. Otherwise, some “men” or “red” could yell at the poor fellow: it is believed that they should give way, since below the status, and even an accidental touch to them is undesirable. At the same time, with those “offended” who fundamentally did not want to obey these rules, usually they could not do anything, because they could not be touched with their hands, and if the “rooster” spit on the “man”, he himself will be among the “offended”.
Interesting observation regarding the behavior of prisoners in the rooms of long dates In the colonies, the duration of long dates is three days: during this time, convicts and their relatives live in a separate room like a hostel. The wife of the political prisoner Pasha quotes: “When we first came on a date, Pasha said that they said to him that he should not go into the kitchen at all. But in fact, he did not observe this rule. We always went into the kitchen together, he used everything he wanted there. And how many dates were already, no one objected to him. Perhaps in the detachment they do not advertise this, of course. As if people do not strive to follow these rules and only because of the pressure of society follow them. ”
"We need to radically change the policy ... burn prisons, for example." Is it possible to abolish the prison hierarchy?
I asked all the speaker_kim about how to eradicate the caste system in places of imprisonment.
“It seems to me that fundamental transformations are needed here,” says Olya, the wife of political prisoner Pasha, “because, firstly, this system is very beneficial for the garbage itself. It allows you to separate and rule. And society, it seems to me, has absorbed it very much. It spreads far beyond the colony and slips in people at the household level. There must be systemic transformations in the colonies, in the entire system of power. Because power is the source of all this. In general, the policy pursued by the authorities also fuels all these homophobic things. It is necessary to radically change politics, change the attitude in everything. Well, burn prisons, for example. "
Konstantin Kotov is similar in evaluating Olya: “The FSIN is one of the state organs, and in itself it cannot become more progressive and free. The state itself should change. And this will naturally not happen right away, because after all, the system of execution of punishments has a long history, starting with the Gulag. Many of these methods - they go from there, and, in fact, the use of the criminal world for pressure on the same political prisoners, that is, a all -power humiliation of a person, is all the heritage of those times. ”
“It's just the real thing is just nonsense! - By the end of the interview, Sergei no longer hides emotions. - Everyone should be equal, all crimes have committed, everyone has hit. Who was doing free there - what's the difference? Even if the prisoners are divided, let each group live its own life and does not intersect with others. There should not be such that a whole detachment lives together, and only “rooster” is removed in this detachment. Everyone should do the same work or distribute it by duty, for example. This administration should bury all these foundations, ways, concepts, because in its hands power. Then there will be order everywhere, and everyone will be equal, everyone will do the same work. And who is unacceptable - let him go to where everyone is unacceptable. And let them live in shit, in mud, in some dugout. ”
PS If you think that some important issues in this topic remained unsolved, or want to talk about your experience in the status of the “offended” -write to me . I will definitely answer, and perhaps we will make another material about people who have suffered from the caste system existing in prison.
Other materials
"It is almost unbearable to me here, but a mountain of letters warms me like a summer forest bonfire."
How to help Sasha Skochilenko, who is kept in a pre -trial detention center, despite an auto -immune disease and mental disorder
"My means of struggle - paint and camera"
Interview with Bogdan Ziza from jail
As artist Dima Stalover began to export people from Russia who was facing a prison
“You think that they will never come to you. But it works as a rand as a rand "
"I am an anarchist, and my views have not changed over the years"
Five years of persecution, three arrests, two sentences - DOXA talked with Anastasia Safonova, a person involved in the case of the Banner of the FSB - the main terrorist
Cruel detention, a year of ships and up to 22.5 years for a failed political suicide
We talk about the case of Anton Zhuchkov and Vladimir Sergeyev
