Elena Omelchenko's research project on Russian prisons has been supported by Scientific Foundation of HSE

Science Foundation of HSE supported the individual grant project on the study of inequality in Russian prisons (project manager - Elena Omelchenko).

The study of stratification and hierarchies in the Russian prison system will be a logical continuation of the two research projects that were also supported by the Foundation. The first project focused on the issues of return and adaptation of women prisoners. Its results were published in 2012 in the collective monograph "Before and after prison. Women's History". The second monograph devoted to women's networks to support prisoners will be released later this February.

The current project focuses on prison experience directly: how inequality is perceived by prisoners themselves, what kind of effect on the perception does gender, religion, class, ethnic differences has, what determines the power and status of the prosecuted in the prison world. The researchers will also analyze the influence of the Soviet Gulag system for formal and informal control practices in Russian prisons, and to compare domestic penitentiary experiences with other countries