Prisons, politics and organized crime: the case of Kyrgyzstan

Kupatadze, Alexander

doi:10.1007/s12117-013-9208-2

Cited by 12 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…With State capacity limited, law enforcement inefficient and corruption pervasive, the Krygyz prison is a stronghold of organised crime, a legacy of the Gulag, where prisoners themselves prescribe punishments, police hierarchical boundaries, disseminate rules, and function as guarantors of justice (Cheloukhine 2008, Kupatadze 2014. This informal governance, institutionalised through criminal organisation, enacts a disciplinary power in relation (and opposition) to those of the prison administration and State (Kupatadze 2014). Methadone treatment becomes an object of translation between the diametrically opposing rationalities of governance of the State, 'the Reds', and the informal Criminal Code, 'the Blacks'.…”

Section: Governing Through Substancementioning

confidence: 99%

The becoming‐methadone‐body: on the onto‐politics of health intervention translations

Rhodes

Azbel

Lancaster

et al. 2019

Sociology Health & Illness

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In this paper, we reflect on health intervention translations as matters of their implementation practices. Our case is methadone treatment, an intervention promoted globally for treating opioid dependence and preventing HIV among people who inject drugs. Tracing methadone's translations in high‐security prisons in the Kyrgyz Republic, we notice the multiple methadones made possible, what these afford, and the onto‐political effects they make. We work with the idea of the ‘becoming‐methadone‐body’ to trace the making‐up of methadone treatment and its effects as an intra‐action of human and nonhuman substances and bodies. Methadone's embodied effects flow beyond the mere psycho‐activity of substances incorporating individual bodies, to material highs and lows incorporating the governing practices of prisoner society. The methadone‐in‐practice of prisoner society is altogether different to that imagined as being in translation as an intervention of HIV prevention and opioid treatment, and has material agency as a practice of societal governance. Heroin also emerges as an actor in these relations. Our analysis troubles practices of ‘evidence‐based’ intervention and ‘implementation science’ in the health field, by arguing for a move towards ‘evidence‐making’ intervention approaches. Noticing the onto‐politics of health intervention translations invites speculation on how intervening might be done differently.

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Section: Governing Through Substancementioning

confidence: 99%

The becoming‐methadone‐body: on the onto‐politics of health intervention translations

Rhodes

Azbel

Lancaster

et al. 2019

Sociology Health & Illness

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show abstract

“…Právě za těchto podmínek se formovaly vory v zakoně a získaly přístup k moci, protože právě jich vězeňské úřady využívaly k udržování pořádku a ke kontrole ostatních vězňů ve volných prostorech táborů. Polozhentsi a smotryashchie jsou pak ti, prostřednictvím nichž malé množství vorů v zakoně monopolizuje svoji moc (Cowley 2015;Kupatadze 2014).…”

Section: Tetování V Prostředí Ruskojazyčné Kriminální Subkulturyunclassified

“…Existuje zde trh s potravinami, léčivy, cigaretami i drogami. Tento trh regulují vory v zakoně využívající obshchak a neformální soudy známé jako skhodki (Kupatadze 2014). Smyslem již zmíněných pravidel (zapovedi arestanta) je vytvořit co nejpříznivější podmínky pro vlastní organizaci pobytu ve vězení.…”

Section: Tetování V Prostředí Ruskojazyčné Kriminální Subkulturyunclassified

Konstrukce, deklarace a manifestace kriminální identity v reflexi druhého života odsouzených: příklad ruskojazyčné kriminální subkultury

Lochmannová¹

2020

Acta FF ZČU

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This study focuses on the presentation of the specifics of Russian-speaking criminal groups in Czech men's prisons, especially in relation to the formation of their subcultural identity, the hierarchization process and use of bodily modifications, specifically tattoos, as an important tool in identity construction. Based on an ethnographic analysis, the aim of this study is to describe the identity and essence of Russian-speaking criminal groups and the Russian-speaking subculture operating within Czech men's prisons. During the period, a total of 205 controlled interviews were conducted with convicts serving prison sentences, 77 of which were interviews with prison staff and 128 were interviews with convicted men. During the guided interviews, the main topic was to explore the so-called "second life" of convicts, especially the hierarchy of convicts and the rules of its formation, as well as the projection of the second life of convicts into their physical modifications. The study provides an insight into the life of Russian-speaking criminal groups as an independent subcultural entity built on simple rules, which forms not only the basic "building block" of the community, but also the essence of collective identity. An important tool of construction, reconstruction, or confirmation of identity are, among other things, in the case of Russian-speaking convicts, body modifications, especially tattoos, which have fixed rules not only in terms of symbolism, but also in the process of obtaining the tattoo, as the act of tattooing is not merely the decision of one individual, as this decision must be agreed upon hierarchically by higher individuals.

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“…Below the vor-v-zakone is the polozhenets (leader), then the smotryashchie (supervisors or deputies), muzhiki (workers) and then the opushennie (outcasts). These prisoner hierarchies exist across all of Kyrgyzstan's eleven prison colonies, as well as its remand prisons (Kupatadze 2014). Vory monopolize informal governance through their appointed prison leaders.…”

Section: Kyrgyzstanmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-governing prisons: Prison gangs in an international perspective

2018

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This paper finds qualified support for the use of Skarbek's (2011, 2014) governance theory to understand the emergence of prison gang-like groups in Kyrgyzstan, Northern Ireland and Brazil. However, Skarbek's (2011, 2014) governance theory has little to say about how many prison gangs emerge and how they organise comparatively outside the US context. This paper argues that variation in the number of gangs and their monopolization of informal governance can only be explained by considering importation and deprivation theories alongside governance theories. These theories factor in variation in prison environments and pre-existing societal divisions imported into prison, which affect the costs on information transmission and incentives for gang expansion. In particular, the paper pays attention to the wider role social and political processes play in influencing whether monopoly power by prison gangs is supported and legitimized or not.

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Prisons, politics and organized crime: the case of Kyrgyzstan

Cited by 12 publications

References 19 publications

The becoming‐methadone‐body: on the onto‐politics of health intervention translations

The becoming‐methadone‐body: on the onto‐politics of health intervention translations

Konstrukce, deklarace a manifestace kriminální identity v reflexi druhého života odsouzených: příklad ruskojazyčné kriminální subkultury

Self-governing prisons: Prison gangs in an international perspective

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