The female criminal community is quite different from the male one. The modern code of thieves, according to which prisoners live in prisons for men, prohibits a woman from becoming a thief in law. However, nothing prevents her from achieving a similar status, becoming an authority in the women's colony. After all, in fact, a thief in law is an experienced criminal, whose authority is recognized by all representatives of the criminal world. Below we look at what a woman needs to do to rise to the top of the prison hierarchy.
Authorities of women's colonies
According to employees of women's correctional institutions, you can hardly find female thieves today. Previously, they were called Baghdadkas; they had an authority in the zone similar to the status of a thief in law in a men's prison. Despite this, Baghdad women were “uncrowned” - such a tradition simply did not exist in women’s colonies.
Over time, life in correctional institutions for women became increasingly distant from life according to “concepts.” This led to the fact that the old thieves died, and new ones simply did not appear. However, this does not mean that there are no authorities in women's areas. There are elders here who keep order, seasoned multi-walkers and aggressive males.
Hundreds of thousands of women are incarcerated in prisons around the world every year. Their crimes range from fraud to infanticide. But even among murderers there is a strong desire to have a soul mate with whom one could feel like a woman.
You can’t deceive nature - “you want love even in hard labor, when it seems from hunger and constant humiliation. that the strength remained only to close your eyes after lights out and fall into an anxious sleep,” wrote the Englishwoman Helen May, convicted of murder, in the 18th century. After 300 years, women in prisons and colonies still want to have a place of love and care in their lives. Alas, even these feelings take on the ugliest forms in conditions of captivity.
An unenviable lot
In Rus', imprisonment in a prison was considered a mild punishment and not commensurate with the severity of the offense. In addition, prisoners had to be guarded and fed. Therefore, imprisonment was introduced only in 1550 by the Code of Laws of Ivan the Terrible. The term of imprisonment was not specified, implying life imprisonment. Other types of punishment corresponded to the spirit of the times: criminals had their heads and hands cut off, their nostrils were torn out, they were branded, they were flogged with a whip. Wealthy people could pay off the crime by paying a fine to the treasury or to the victim.
The action of the judges de facto did not apply to women. For crimes, including adultery (betrayal of their husband), women were sent to a monastery. However, the Russian Truth of Yaroslav the Wise (11th century) did not exclude the execution of a woman if she “produces and destroys a child without her husband or with her husband.”
The word of the tsar in Rus' was above all laws. Ivan III ordered to “execute and drown in the Moscow river at night the dashing women who came with the potion to Grand Duchess Sophia.”
Under Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov, women who killed their husbands, as well as “seducers to their Busurman faith,” were ordered to be burned at the stake. It was also allowed to break their necks, hang them and bury them alive. Even if the woman didn't do anything. but she was only married to a man sentenced to hard labor; she followed her husband to Siberia along with her children.
In 1744, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, known for her decree suspending capital punishment, signed a decree on the separate imprisonment of women and men. Under her, the Senate ordered “obscene girls” to be sent to factory work and spinning houses. 40 years later, Catherine II wrote a draft prison charter that provided for the “separation” of men and women, but did not have time to implement it.
The position of women was to change in 1887 when the position of female matron was introduced. But there were few candidates for such a position, and the prisoners were still at the mercy of men, who often raped the criminals.
Already at the end of the 19th century, convicted ladies were divided into two categories: political and criminal. If at the stage to Siberia they did not touch political ones, then raping criminals was not considered shameful. Resistance was pointless, because the law allowed assault against rebel women. It was not until 1893 that corporal punishment was abolished for women.
In addition to the guards and guards, the convicts who followed in the same stream also raped the prisoners. That’s why most women tried to look disgusting: they reeked of sweat and urine, their hands and faces were covered in abrasions and dirt.
Surrender to survive
No thick walls or high fences could kill a person’s attraction to the opposite sex. The famous Russian lawyer Mikhail Gernet in his book “In Prison. Essays on Prison Psychology" wrote: "Where they (prisons) are located in the same yard or at a close distance from each other, the prison administration turns out to be completely powerless to prevent the love communication between male and female prisoners: acquaintances are made with amazing speed through facial expressions, shouting, correspondence and even personal meetings, which are not so rare, despite all the prison bars and prohibitions. Romances begin. In search of success with the intended object of “love,” they resort to the usual means in such cases: compliments, small gifts in the form of tobacco, tea, sugar, etc. Assurances of fidelity to the grave are replaced by scenes of jealousy and harsh abuse.”
One of the sections of his book is dedicated to a Russian women’s prison at the beginning of the 20th century: “... women triads, performing, in unnatural relationships with fellow prisoners, the role of men... these women have all the antics of men and walk and comb their hair like men and smoke, and wear shirts, belted with a cord.” The courtship began with notes, with assurances of mad love and requests not to belong to anyone. In her notes she wrote that she kissed her little mouth and eyes and wanted to kiss her all over.”
The Soviet government did not reinvent the wheel in dealing with criminals, taking the methods of the tsarist regime and tightening them. True, hard labor was renamed a forced labor camp, but this did not change the essence. Along with men, women worked in logging, dug canals and built buildings. The proximity of men's and women's camps partly alleviated the problem of sexual tension. Dating, although difficult, was quite possible. In addition, the prisoners were also guarded by men, who often demanded closeness from them.
For the inhabitants of Stalin's camps, sex was not just a carnal pleasure, but also a chance for survival. Finding herself in a camp for a careless word or a stupid deed, the woman was at first lost from the abundance of adversity. Then the instinct of self-preservation kicked in, and the prisoner was ready to do anything to survive. So, in order to avoid being assigned to hard work, she was often ready to sleep with anyone: with the head of the camp, with the “godfather”, or even with the guard. Civil servants were just as desirable - accountants, warehouse managers, accountants. Because the outfit for work, warm clothes, and, in the end, an extra loaf of bread were worth having to endure a few minutes of intercourse.
Kobles, or “it”
Having received huge sentences, the Gulag prisoners did not hope for a successful outcome. They knew that in 10 years their young body would turn into a wrinkled wreck from hard work and malnutrition. In addition, there was a chance of getting pregnant from a relationship with a man. And pregnancy became a ticket to another world. Such convicts were sent to special camps, where they hardly worked, but received increased food standards. The fact that a month later the child was taken away by the state was not important to the woman. She gave birth to him not for procreation, but to survive. It got to the point that the camp administration strictly forbade employees from having sexual contact with convicts, and miraculously, a man who ended up in the camp risked being torn apart by prisoners eager to get pregnant.
The proximity of female and male zones made female same-sex relationships nonsense. But still, this phenomenon already took place then. One of the Gulag prisoners, Elena Olitskaya, who served her sentence in the 1930s, recalled her arrival in Kolyma. “At first we were stunned by the sharply striking women - “it”. Nasty, disgustingly arrogant creatures. There were fewer of them in Magadan. They were usually sent to deep camps. Insolent faces, masculine-cut hair, quilted jackets thrown over the shoulders... They had their own mistresses, their own kept women among the prisoners. In couples, hugging, they walked around the camp, flaunting their love. The prison authorities, like the vast majority of prisoners, hated “it.” The camp women timidly avoided them.”
What Olitskaya called “it” had a different name in prison tradition - kobly, or koblukhi. Smelling cigarettes, they loved to swear at life and drag out a ditty:
Oh. thanks to Stalin, made me a lady, I am a cow, I am a bull. I am both a woman and a man.
The writer Mikhail Demin, convicted as a juvenile in 1942, described this category of convicts in his book “Blatnoy”.
“These guys were stern, assertive, and aggressive. The entire population of the camp was afraid of them. They drank vodka, took drugs, played cards. And they mercilessly pushed around their mistresses - weak-willed and downtrodden pickers.
As a rule, each of the cobles had several such mistresses - he took turns with them and tightly held his harem in his hands. But there were cases of, so to speak, monogamous love, sometimes outlandish alliances arose in the women's barracks, strange weddings were celebrated. In the barracks where I once wandered, just such a wedding was taking place. Everything was as it should be: someone sang, someone beat out the gypsy girl. And in the midst of the general fun - at the set table - a young lesbian was sobbing.
The “groom” sitting next to her, with short hair, dressed in a painted blouse, looked at me gloomily and with concern... He clearly perceived me as an enemy, as a potential rival! And the whole time I was here, I felt his constant, viscous gaze on me.”
Pickers
Until the 50s of the 20th century, most prisoners treated pickers - that is, passive lesbians - with silent contempt. They certainly knew about it, but the benefits of being with a strong partner were more significant. As a rule, this was physical and moral protection. To a lesser extent - a more satisfying and less tiring life. For the sake of a picker, a brutal cow could do a lot: rush into a fight, be rude to the warden, get smokes and food. In order to prevent transfer to another camp, the cow easily agreed to “mastyrka” - she cut the skin and poured potassium permanganate into it, causing an ulcer. Some swallowed crayon lead to get a stomach burn. All this ended in the infirmary, and the transfer to another zone was cancelled. But for others, self-harm ended with a wooden cross in the churchyard.
Elderly cows were no different in appearance from men. The same figure, hands, facial features. Except that he is shorter and lacks a bald spot on his head. Haircuts - and they were short, like men's - Canadian or beaver. They spoke in a male voice and were in authority.
Unlike whores, their picker lovers were rarely capable of strong actions. Dependent on their mistresses, they only fulfilled their desires, giving tender caresses. And if the cow was freed earlier, the picker rarely remained faithful to her. However, there were exceptions. Prisoner Tamara Boguzhinskaya, the heiress of a noble family, intelligent and insightful, cohabited with the powerful and strong Estonian Wanda Peters in the Stalinist camp. Already an old woman, Boguzhinskaya admitted to a journalist: “I was married twice. But I really only wanted a child from Wanda.”
By the early 1970s, lesbian relationships in women's colonies were quite common. Yulia Voznesenskaya’s story “The White Chamomile” describes the sexual educational program that the young convict Tatyana went through.
“In the children’s colony, the older female colonists taught Tatyana all the intricacies of “female love.”
“At first, like all newcomers, I was a “bottom”, so later I was able to deal with men,” Tatyana explained to us. - And many “from below” - they don’t want a man after him. “If you try a finger, you won’t want a boy.”
It is worth noting that carnal pleasures are not the most important thing in female love in the zone. Having been deprived of their freedom, especially if the term was long, many ladies also lost their husbands. Rarely was anyone willing to wait for a woman who would be released in a few years, and with a broken psyche at that. Children, growing up in the absence of their mother, began to feel shy about her. As a result, only mothers went on dates with prisoners. And the female psyche is designed in such a way that a woman always wants to love and be loved. There is no one in the camp, except for an outcast like herself. So they get closer.
“You see a person with whom you find it more pleasant to talk than with anyone else in the squad.” And it’s really hard for one. — said Yulia, a prisoner at Mozhaisk IK-5.
“And here you can talk and cry, and live together.” General affairs, shopping, experiences.”
Such warm relationships in the women's zone are called “halves.”
"Halves"
Over several decades, women's colonies developed a special ritual for starting relationships. The convict, who liked the other one, starts from afar. Gifts appear on the object of affection’s bedside table: postcards, chocolates, toys. Sometimes the identity of the donor remains unknown for some time. This is done so that the potential partner does not immediately reject the advances. At the same time, according to camp concepts, if she picks up something, much less eats it, it means the gift has been accepted. Thus, the go-ahead was given for the development of relations. If a woman does not want “love”, then she should not accept gifts. There are such people too, but they usually have short terms and great chances of returning to their previous life. It is impossible to force anyone to “play love” in the women’s area. Even the hens know this, so they also give gifts.
When a couple forms, then, as in the wild, women “build a family nest.” They curtain the adjacent bunks of sheets, creating something like a railway compartment. There they indulge in intimacy. Moreover, experienced prisoners can be mutualists - alternately playing the role of both men and women.
“When I arrived at the zone, I was 20 years old, just a girl,” recalled longtime prisoner Marina. — At night I went to bed on the second tier and heard something happening below. I froze, listening. And there are sighs, gasps, and the bunk is shaking. It came as a shock to me. And then nothing, I got used to it.”
As experienced “halves” say, men cannot feel as subtly for women as they do. Love for a partner is even stronger than for a man. The one who is morally stronger takes on part of the responsibilities of the “half”. “Well, I had to be on duty there... they’ll be on duty for me...” 24-year-old prisoner Elena shared her memories. “I have to be on duty at night—my other half is on duty... For lunch, for breakfast, for dinner, they give me oatmeal—I won’t eat it.” She will eat it herself, but I will eat meat, eggs, milk, she will get it all for me... by any means... Washing - you don’t even know what it is... Ironing... cleaning the bed - you don’t know either... she does absolutely everything. He even sews for you. He gives the norm for you.”
But when “halves” quarrel, it’s better not to stand next to each other. The most offensive curse is to call your partner a picker. Although in fact this is true, but... Even worse is jealousy. The convicts have such a personality that even looking at another for a mistress is fraught with beatings, or even death.
In the colony, female prisoners turn a blind eye to same-sex love. Another thing is the camp administration. According to the instructions, homosexual relations are prohibited, but operatives use them to their advantage. If everything is fine, the existing couples are not disturbed. But if one of the “halves” does not comply with labor standards, or even worse, runs into violations, then the friends may be scattered among different units. First, however, they warn. It doesn’t help - one of the mistresses goes to the next barracks. Depending on their further behavior, the women may be reunited. But while this is unknown, the “halves” begin to have hysterics, screams, and curses. He reaches the punishment cell. So intimate relationships are an excellent lever for manipulation.
It happens that a woman is about to be released, but she does double the sewing quota. All because the godfather warned: “If you don’t work, we won’t give your friend a normal life.” Sometimes the “halves” leave the colony gates only after working a shift.
What’s most amazing is that even in freedom, women are loyal to their friends. While one sits out, the other prepares the family nest - works, gets housing, buys things. Even children born to men are raised by the “halves” together.
Answer by concept
The thieves' concepts by which the men's zone lives are of little use for the women's zone. Of course, individual prisoners are trying to promote the thieves subculture, but it has not taken root among the masses. Yes, snitching, which can get you killed in the men’s area, is looked at here as a matter of course. And yet, in the women's area there is a place for sexual punishment.
Most often, girls are “lowered” at a young age. Like guys, girls have raging hormones, they are aggressive and do not notice undertones. “In our detachment there was one “omitted” person who did not have the right to eat at the common table. When she first arrived, she spilled the beans. that she had oral sex with her boyfriend,” said authoritative convict Valentina. “Everyone immediately moved away from her, and at night they pulled her off her bunk and started beating her. Then they stuck the mop handle in one place... The next morning no one spoke to her, they frowned and spat on her. They threw porridge on the floor and forced her to eat.”
In the adult zones, they could be “put down” not only for oral or anal sex, but also for infanticide. In adult zones, they treat any type of sex with indifference, but they also do not favor murderers of children.
Marika Prokhorova was imprisoned in a colony near Saratov in the mid-1990s. The day before, there was a rumor in their zone that they were to bring a woman who had beaten her five-year-old daughter to death with a hammer. While waiting for her, the prisoners lined up outside the barracks and demanded that the administration give her to them for a “conversation.” The new girl had to be hidden in an isolation ward and then transferred to another camp. By the way, many child killers have the inscription on their sign: “Article 105 of the Criminal Code “Murder”” instead of the real 106th - “Murder of a child.” If this nevertheless becomes known to the rest of the prisoners, then the child killer may be left alive, but it’s easy to “put it down” with a mop or a plunger.
The women's zone did not escape such a phenomenon as prostitution. Even in the pre-trial detention center, a pretty prisoner attracts the glances of women, but no one has the right to use her forcefully. The beauty herself, feeling a certain interest, can derive material benefit from this. Sex for money is rarely practiced in captivity, because money is secondary. But tea, cigarettes, delicious food are quite suitable as payment for love. But it will be unbearable for even the super-beauty in the camp to face adversity alone. Therefore, sooner or later she, too, will find her “soul mate” and will “live like everyone else.”
According to experts, 50% of women in the colony sooner or later become lesbians. Research by the Moscow Research Center for Psychology has shown that due to a lack of physical contact with loved ones and a severance of emotional attachments, a woman behind bars changes dramatically after just two years. For men, this period is 4-5 years. It is not surprising, but a woman has no choice but to find a substitute for her feelings, predetermined by nature.
Lev KAPLIN
Life by your own rules
According to legend, the ban on “crowning” female prisoners appeared in 1956. This decision was made collectively by representatives of the highest prison hierarchy at a special thieves’ “gangway”. Then the crime bosses agreed that only a man could be a thief in law.
Be that as it may, the thieves’ law is not respected in modern women’s colonies. Here they don’t live by “concepts” and quite rarely talk over a hairdryer.
In MLS for women, elders keep order. The duties of these prisoners include the following:
- maintaining order in the premises;
- resolving disputes between prisoners;
- establishing connections with the administration.
Thus, the eldest performs the same duties as the warden in a men's prison. If she notices that prisoners are using prohibited items (for example, a mobile phone), she must confiscate them and hand them over to the administration. Mediation between prisoners and prison management is one of the main tasks of the senior.
When a new girl appears in the squad, the older one must tell her about the rules of behavior in the zone, show her where to put things and which bed to occupy. In addition to explaining organizational issues, the main prisoner asks the new arrival several questions in order to understand what article she is under, whether she has experience in the MLS, what she did outside, etc.
In some cases, communication with newcomers is carried out by persons close to the foreman. In women's colonies, as in men's prisons, the elder may have a “retinue”, delegating certain responsibilities to fellow inmates. However, the main prisoner is obliged to personally talk to the new girl, asking her “for her life.”
Obshchak
People constantly come up with all sorts of stories about the common fund. Rumors especially fly wild. Some say that you need to rent from $300, others that from $1000 and above. I want to dispel these rumors. In the central prison (pretrial detention center No. 1), women do not have a common fund. Maybe I will disappoint naive people, but I repeat - there is no common fund here and there never was.
In the pre-trial detention center there is a cell leader, but in the zone there is a squad leader. As a rule, they are women leaders who have and have earned authority. Basically, they live separately, have weight in the criminal world, “warm” both the men’s zone and the women’s zone (supplying them with money. - vb.kg).
Foreigners sit in separate huts. There is a special demand here for murder, rape and serious crimes. Everyone here knows who is in prison and for what.
All in chocolate
The rules for staying in a pre-trial detention center are simple. And the values here are different from those in the wild. Included in the price of a cigarette. They can be exchanged for products. I myself do not smoke, and I have never smoked. In principle, not everyone here smokes and not everyone drinks strong tea, like in the movies. Perhaps because women are a special contingent.
It is important for a woman to have hygiene items: soap, toothpaste, pads, underwear, and so on. Not everyone here has these things. Well, women have their own quirks. For example, you can give anything for candy or chocolate.
In cells measuring about 5 by 6 meters, you can do everything - cook food, wash, get a haircut, and so on. By the way, the fact that stabbing and cutting objects are prohibited in closed institutions is all a canard. I had everything - even nail scissors and nail polishes. True, all this needs to be hidden in a timely manner and it is advisable that none of the guards know about it. By the way, not all of them are honest before the law. It is no secret that some convicts can bring you anything they want from outside for a certain fee. For example, various goodies that are not available in the pre-trial detention center. The amount of payment varies greatly. The guards turn a blind eye to this. On the other hand, they can be understood, the salary is small, and the contingent is not the best.
The food here is quite edible, but few people eat it - mostly suckers. This is the law here - if you don’t put yourself out there, you will eat gruel yourself, and everything else is what your relatives give you from the outside. If you turn out to be a sucker, they will constantly charge you (demand - vb.kg) for money. There was one like this with us. Every day they handed her large bags of food not for one person, but for six, and we all ate from her dachas.
The elder's orders must be followed
Unlike prisons for men, in women's colonies the authorities do not always become criminals with extensive experience of serving. Here, organizational skills, the ability to find a common language with the team and manage prisoners, maintain order and establish contacts with the administration are more valued.
The leader of the detachment is elected through a vote of prisoners. Subsequently, the candidacy of the senior officer in the squad must certainly be approved by the prison leadership. Thus, the foreman must meet two main criteria:
- be an authority for prisoners;
- have no complaints from the camp authorities.
The eldest and her “retinue” eat separately from other prisoners. Ordinary prisoners are prohibited from sitting at the main table. Senior assistants solve various organizational issues, such as drawing up a schedule for cleaning the premises, monitoring discipline, etc.
The authority of the main prisoner is indisputable. Her word is law for every nurse. Therefore, she must be wise and judicious. If the eldest creates chaos, uses her position for personal gain, then she will not last long in this position.
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By the way, lawlessness in places of deprivation of liberty for women practically does not occur. Since current legislation prohibits the imprisonment of women for life, each prisoner plans to return to her family and children. And if you behave well, you can count on parole.
The best medicine is analgin
There is no talk about medical care here. They give analgin for all diseases. One day, my cellmate started having seizures; she didn’t have any pills. For about five minutes we knocked on the iron door of our hut to call the guard. He came, opened the door, looked and said: “Yes, she’s playing the fool, I’ve seen people like her more than once,” and left. The convulsions did not stop, we again started banging on the door. Only after the guard saw that the convulsions were not stopping did he call a doctor. She came, beat her a little on the cheeks, splashed water, and turned the girl on her side. When the patient calmed down, the doctor gave her a pill and left. She answered our questions: “He will live to see the wedding.”
We were taken out for a walk, or rather, to breathe fresh air in a room with a grill instead of a ceiling, about two or three times a week, although by law it was supposed to be every day. Several people go out to the “boom” at the same time. From above, armed officers of the pre-trial detention center are walking around the cage. The walk lasts approximately an hour. There, people under investigation or convicts talk to each other and get to know newcomers.
Who are the mothers in women's prisons?
In women's colonies, mothers are seasoned prisoners who have much in common with thieves in law. However, contrary to the name, these women mostly have neither families nor children. Thieves' mothers, as a rule, are older women who in the past ran dens and traded so-called “living goods.” In the wild, mothers are most often engaged in supplying girls for foreign brothels and pimping.
In criminal circles, these prisoners are respected. If desired, the thieves' mother can take the place of the eldest, since she has extensive experience in organizing various criminal processes. Other prisoners usually trust their mothers and do not enter into conflicts with them.
"Mothers" in the zone
In Russian prisons you can often meet the so-called “mothers” - women who were pimps and brothel owners when they were free. It’s easy for them to become female crime bosses. Fortunately, they already have experience in managing affairs in a women’s team. The “mothers,” once in prison, quickly restore order and establish their own rules in the cell. Most prisoners try with all their might to get closer to the “mothers” and become part of their retinue. This promises great privileges.
But getting closer to the “mother” in prison is not so easy. To do this, at a minimum, you need to serve at least half of the term. Prisoners are especially appreciated, to whom relatives often send large parcels. But this cannot guarantee an increase in status. In addition, women in prison can become authorities in other ways.
To become a boss, you need connections
The eldest and her “retinue” are a closed group. Newbies rarely get there. To achieve a good position in the prison hierarchy, a prisoner needs to spend quite a lot of time in MLS. The prisoner must prove her reliability, flexibility, willingness to share packages and support team members in difficult situations.
Some prisoners are watched by their cellmates for months. The easiest way to gain respect is for those individuals who often receive parcels from relatives and share products with members of their team.
Conflicts and love
As a rule, conflicts in women's prisons and colonies do not lead to a fight, but end in a raised voice.
But if a fight does break out, it is usually particularly cruel. Without a compelling reason, prisoners try not to enter into conflict, since the culprit will most likely be quickly identified and severely punished, as well as everyone else. But as for love, the information here is quite contradictory. In most cases, romantic relationships are started by girls who end up in prison not for the first time - “second-timers.” Women in a couple support each other. If they suddenly find themselves in different cells, they will do everything to reunite. Usually, inmates and older are normal towards lesbian couples and do not create any obstacles for them. The administration often adheres to the same policy.
Romantic relationships are started by girls who end up in prison not for the first time // Photo: Rambler.ru
At the same time, love relationships between prisoners and pre-trial detention center or prison employees of the opposite sex are not uncommon. Girls agree to have sex with law enforcement officers for the sake of certain privileges, as well as in order to make their life in the “zone” easier and more enjoyable.
“The best thing is to become the opera’s mistress. Many people strive for this,” a former prisoner told reporters
.
"Rubles"
In a women's prison there is a category of prisoners who fall into sexual slavery to guards and other representatives of the camp administration (“godfathers”). The prisoners call them “ruble money.” This concept comes from the Stalinist Gulag. For their services, sex slaves receive certain privileges: they may not perform general work, receive additional food, etc.
Not all rubles are the same. In the 20-50s, there was a whole classification of privileged prisoners on Solovki: “half-ruble”, “15-kopeck” (or “five-altyn”) and “ruble” proper. Depending on her rank, a woman received different benefits and “bonuses.” If a prisoner refused to have sexual contact with her godfather, she was doomed to constant cruel oppression.
