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Russian criminal tattoos

Example of traditional prison tattoo, with medal motif showing

During the 20th century in the Soviet Union, Russian criminal and prison communities maintained a culture of using tattoos to indicate members' criminal career and ranking. Specifically among those imprisoned under the Gulag system of the Soviet era, the tattoos served to differentiate a criminal leader or thief in law from a political prisoner.[1]

The practice grew in the 1930s, peaking in the 1950s and declining in popularity in the 1970s and 1980s.[1][2]

  1. ^ a b Sidorov 2008, p. 25.
  2. ^ Sidorov 2008, p. 43.