‘Behind Bars’: Media Representations of Prisoners in the Russian Federation

Abstract

Russia remains a prison ‘superpower’, second only to America in the number of convicted citizens per head of population. This is a fact not well known to people in Russia and it is not always interpreted as a social problem. From the constructionist point of view, if there is no claim-making dialogue demanding change, this cannot be seen as a social problem. This is largely explained by the closed nature of Russia’s penal system to the rest of society. This gives the media an especially important role in the transmission of representations of the prison system. However, there has been a gradual shift toward more coverage of the issue in the media, with prisoners being represented as a ‘symbol of threat’; this study looks to establish how far this is pursued in today’s Russia. This is done by a focus on television images and representations on Channel 1, Russia’s most watched TV station. Computer software is used to isolate references to the subject, which are then analyzed. What is shown is the dominance of negative images of prisoners as the cultural ‘other’, a rotten type of people that must be repressed, thus justifying the current harshness of the repressive penal system. They are shown against a backdrop of huge bars, steel doors, barbwire and armed guards, the symbols of their imprisonment from the rest of society. They are stigmatized into second-class citizens, a hardened criminal element that seeks to escape confinement and threaten society. The message sent is that only the vigilance of the penal system that stands between ordinary people and these threatening criminals; thus reinforcing an often used Russian saying – ‘A thief must sit in prison’ – a phrase that reflects a lack of sympathy for criminal actions. This brings with it the rejection of a discussion of the underlying reasons for Russia’s shockingly high proportions of imprisonment or the utility of the current system.