Tatto 2013

The mark of Cain: the russian criminal tattoo (V) Getting a tattoo in prison can be very risky for the health; AIDS, tuberculosis, hepatitis and syphilis are just a few examples of diseases that can be transmitted through tattooing. There are over 100.000 convicts with TB in the russian prisons, and aprox 20.000 of them have an incurable form of tuberculosis.

The mark of Cain: the russian criminal tattoo, episode 3. The first episode can be seen here and the second episode can be seen here. The 3rd episode can be seen here In this episode: details about the White Swan, the toughest prison in Russia A tough convicted has the right to get a tattoo on the eyelids - usually a message like "Don't dare to wake me up!" - an avertisment for the other convicted to keep quiet when the tough guy is sleeping.

The mark of Cain: the russian criminal tattoo, episode 3. The first episode can be seen here and the second episode can be seen here. Extras from this episode: The lowest category in the criminal world are the so-called Downcast. The men in the colony who fulfill, mostly by force, the female role. [...] These people (the Downcast) live separately, they eat separately,they sit apart in the mess hall. They don't have the right to look in the eyes of the other convicts. [...] Sometimes they have humiliating words (like slave, or bitch) tattooed on their faces, so they can be easily recognized when they arrive in a new prison.

The mark of Cain: the russian criminal tattoo, episode 2. The first episode can be seen here. Did you know...? - the cross is one of the most popular tattoo designs among the russian convicts. If an inmate has a tattoo with the representation of the crucifixion of Christ, it means that he (the inmate) is the leader of a criminal organization

The Mark of Cain documents the fading art form and the Russian criminal tattoos, once a taboo subject in Russia. The virtual disappearance is now seen as a reflection of the transition of Russian society in general. Filmed in some of the most notorious prisons in Russia, including the famous White Swan, interviews with prisoners, guards, and criminologists show the secret language of the area and the Code Stalinist Gulag inmates, or the area, as it is called, has developed a complex social structure (documented in the decade of 1920) that incorporated highly symbolic tattooing as a mark of rank. The existence of these inmates in prisons and labor camps was considered by the state as a closely guarded secret. In the 1990s, the population of Russia broke jail overcrowding among the worst in the world. Some estimates suggest that in the last generation of over thirty million of Russia’s inmates have had tattoos, but the process is illegal in Russian prisons. The Mark of Cain...