Russian jail tattoo

a few weeks ago i picked up a copy of the russian criminal tattoo encyclopedia vol. 1 and it blew my mind. this three volume series was put together by a russian prison guard who spent his lifelong career documenting over 3,000 prisoner tattoos. most of the tattoos are really, really intense -- these are a few of the more toned down ones. if you're into this kind of stuff i highly reccomend these books.

Throughout the Communist era, convicts in the Soviet prison system cultivated a visual language through tattoo art. Take a look at a selection of images that helped officials decode the language of Russian tattoos and solve cases across the country: http://nyr.kr/1x6qz42 (Photograph courtesy Arkady Bronnikov/FUEL)

I recently finished the second volume of the Encyclopedia of Russian Criminal Tattoos by Baldaev and Valsiliev. (It was a gift from my wife-- don't ask.) For over fifty years, Baldaev worked in the Russian prison camps where he studied and recorded the tattoos of thousands of criminals. The Encyclopedia documents a brutal world where hardened criminals, debased by Tsarist labor camps and Stalin's gulag, lived like animals. They killed and maimed each other impassively. Walking around naked…

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Prison tattoo designs are a rage among the youth worldwide. If you want to jump on the bandwagon, discover some of the best designs and their meanings here.

Tattoos are commonly used among criminals to show gang membership and record the wearer’s personal history—such as his or her skills, specialties, accomplishments, and convictions. They are a…