Russian Prisons and Tattoos

The film, The Mark of Cain, by Alix Lambert took a while to digest. I had mixed feelings about the ethnography. I think what came as the biggest surprise was that I didn't feel sorry for some of the prisoners even though their conditions were terrible. Nevertheless some prisoners pointed out facts that were surprising and obviously flawed with the Russian judicial court. 

I think the reason that I did not take pity on some prisoners is because they were murderers. I don't believe in the death penalty, but I also don't think that someone convicted of murder should live comfortably in jail. While the tactics of flooding rooms, starving the inmates, beatings by guards, etc. was extreme and against human rights - I do not feel pity for those who were selfish enough to take another person's life.

While the murders did not rally much sympathy from me, the thief surprisingly did. At one point in the film a prisoner pointed out that someone convicted of theft could very easily serve a longer sentence than someone convicted of murder. I think that this may be a cultural difference between the U.S. and Russia - maybe that is expected or the norm there? However in the U.S., murder is treated as a far worse crime that theft, and I agree with that. 

The tattoo aspect of the film was interesting, however I feel like Lambert's purpose was to provide and ethnography on the tattoo hierarchy in a Russian prison but came out with an ethnography of the mistreatment and neglect placed on prisoners with in a Russian prison.

http://www.prison.org/english/rpsys.htm  - I think that this link provides a useful look into the Russian penitentiary system. It shows the differences and similarities between Russian and U.S. judicial system and processes.