THE LEGITIMACY OF POWER IN MODERN RUSSIAN PRISONS: BETWEEN HARSH DISCIPLINE AND MANAGED SELF-GOVERNANCE.

Recent prison reforms in Russia feature humanization discourse. At the same time, prison regimes have become increasingly tight. Drawing on 29 semistructured interviews with former and current inmates, prison officers, and experts collected between 2017 and 2020, this paper analyzes methods through which prison officers seek to achieve the loyalty of prisoners and prevent their resistance. Prison officers aim to achieve internal legitimacy—that is, inmates’ voluntary acceptance of the prison order. To this end, they employ such methods as controlling the self-governance of loyal prisoners and suppressing (sometimes violently) those who are resistant to prison authorities. However, these measures have drawbacks associated with an insufficient level of procedural justice. The brutal crackdown on prisoners makes them feel insecure, forcing them to choose between several alternatives: obey the officers to avoid punishment, work for the prison administration, or seek protection from criminal leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]