Various criminal tattoos depicting torches – a symbol of freedom.
Top left: ‘1947. St. Kitoy’
Corrective Labour Colony No.9. 1981. Shoulder.An old thieves' tattoo of the 1940s and 1950s specifying the place of imprisonment - Kitoy station, near Irkutsk.
Top middle: ‘Freedom’
Top right: ‘VTK’ [Educational Corrective Labour Camp.]
Middle left: ‘1979-1981. ASP, AIS’. The shackles read ‘BTK, ITK-9’.
A prisoner brought up in an Educational Labour Colony (1978-1981, VTK).
Aged 18 they were transferred to the adult Correctional Labour Colony (ITK-9). Their initials are either side of the manacles.
Bottom right: A thieves tattoo showing the term – seven years.