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“Better be jailed than saint”
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At the turn of the 20th century, Nikolaevka was a working class suburb of Krasnoyarsk. Today it is densely inhabited by those with a criminal past and present. The Trans-Siberian railway and a concrete wall built along its right of way separate this ghetto of sorts from downtown Krasnoyarsk.
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Zhenya, a resident of Nikolayevka. Zhenya’s mother who has two more children, works as a cleaner for the railway and lives with a hard-core criminal who was recently released from jail.
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Andrei Perets, owner of a malina – a hideout where those released from jail may come and live for a while deciding what to do or where to go.
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This Orthodox chapel on the Watch Hill overlooking Krasnoyarsk is well known to all Russians because it features on the 10-ruble notes, thus making it a symbol of money rather than faith.
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Eduard, a hard-core criminal and a tatooer. He spent more than a half of his 39 years behind bars.
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The high security prison #6 is located in the middle of a residential neighbourhood in Krasnoyarsk. When the Soviet Union was approaching its demise in October 1991, a large-scale mutiny took place here with hostage-taking and victims. The inmates held power for more than a month having seized weapons from the guards. From this mutiny, a whole wave of prison upheavals has begun, sweeping over the country at the end of the USSR.
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An icon of Christ in Andrei Perets’ home.
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Father Valery Soldatov once chaired a diocesan department in charge of prisons. Andrei Perets worked for him in his church as a sacristan and even wore a cassock. Then their paths diverged. Father Valery believes hard-core criminals are practically impossible to rectify. ‘Maybe someone succeeded in it but not me”, - he says.
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A tomb of a Gypsy headman
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Station square in Krasnoyarsk. Railway stations have always been a magnet for petty criminals. Those traveling along the Trans-Siberian Railway may be offered “drugs” – the so-called “hashish” which in fact is a mix of dried chewing gum, ash and tobacco.
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A tattoo depicting a woman in a Nazi cap showing off her breasts. During Soviet times, tattooed Nazi symbols were very popular among criminals as they symbolised their resistance against the "system".
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River Yenisei near Krasnoyarsk. During Soviet times, it saw thousands of prisoner transports taking convicts up north to Norilsk and other Arctic parts of the GULAG archipelago.
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Sasha Gromadsky, 41, took part in the mutiny that broke out at high security prison #6 in Krasnoyarsk in October 1991. Gromadsky is not his family name but a nickname: he served one of his terms in a remote Siberian village of Gromadsk.
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Graffiti in central Krasnoyarsk.
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Those recently released from jail may come to Andrei Perets' hideout in Nikolaevka and live for a while deciding what to do and where to go.
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Siberian landscape

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A criminal tatooer’s hand.
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Simple living at Andrei's hideout
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A tattooed star on the knee means "Will never get down on my knees before a cop".
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A motto tattooed on Andrei's feet that may loosely be translated as “You never get a blowjob from a cop, you never escape from Krasnoyarsk Gulag”.
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Andrei Perets with his girlfriend Valentina aka Valentos.
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A man poses for picture in a T-shirt with the logo of a local radio station that broadcasts criminal songs - the so-called shanson.
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Badalyk Cemetery in Krasnoyarsk where many criminal bosses and fighters killed during the mid-1990s mafia wars are buried.