Sergei Vasiliev and Russian Criminal Tattoos

Sergei Vasiliev was born in 1937 in Chelyabinsk, Russia. After graduating from the MVD Academy, Moscow, he became a staff photographer for the newspaper 'Vecherny Chelyabinsk', where he has worked for the past thirty years. At the same time, Vasiliev was also a prison warden. While a fellow worker, Danzig Baldaev, began drawing and cataloguing the designs made by prisoners onto their skin, Vasiliev was given access to take photographs of their body art.


Taken between 1989 and 1993, Sergei Vasiliev’s photographs of Soviet prisoners document the secret code language of criminals in the USSR.
These homemade tattoos, scraped and inked into skin with melted book heels, urine or blood, contained a whole range of coded messages against the Soviet regime and about the prisoners’ individual crimes.

 

Common Symbols:

A dagger through the neck-prisoner committed murder during his sentence

Bells on feet- time was served in full

Menacles on ankles- sentences were over five years

Roaring tiger- represents convict's aggression

Rose on the shoulder- wearer turned 18 in prison

Dots on fingers- indicate the number of terms served

 

Tattoos are highly regarded among prisoners, and having a tattoo you did not earn results in severe punishment. At best, it would be removed with sandpaper, glass, a razor, or brick. If the offender refused, he would be raped or killed.