Prisons don't fix things. After a prisoner has served his time, he leaves the penitentiary institution bitter and embittered. The only thing that stops him from entering the prison again is the difficult relationship between his cellmates. The reason is hidden in the existing prison castes: “thieves”, “man”, “rooster”, “six”, “shnyr”. Who they are and what place they occupy in the criminal hierarchy can be read in our article.
Blatnye
These are kings in the prison hierarchy, above thieves only thieves in law. But there are several hundred thieves, and tens of thousands of thieves. They are the ones who “hold” the zone or prison. Thieves usually don’t work, but in any case, an official position in the zone is a waste for them, otherwise transfer to a “goat” is inevitable. Any position on the outside that is in one way or another connected with service (taxi driver, waiter, hairdresser) serves as a ban on obtaining the status of a criminal in the zone (in prison). Those who have completed military service cannot become thieves either. The thieves have the right to spend money from the “common fund” for “targeted” needs – bribery, “heating up”. They also sort out intra-prison conflicts “by concept” and assign punishment to those responsible.
Penitentiary institutions of Russia
Before defining the slang term shnir
, it is worth understanding the structure of penitentiary institutions in the CIS, and in particular in Russia:
- Pre-trial detention center
. Detention of persons under investigation (a suspect awaiting trial), defendants (the trial is already underway) and convicted persons (the punishment is known, the prisoner is awaiting escort to the zone). Can a prisoner serve his sentence in a pre-trial detention center? Yes, this happens in the following cases:- The punishment is the first, and the term itself does not exceed 5 years. In this case, the convict is engaged in maintaining the facilities of the pre-trial detention center. But, as strange as it may sound, not everyone gets such a chance;
- The term of imprisonment is less than 6 months.
- Correctional Facility
. Penitentiary colonies are divided into:- Colonial settlements
- the person convicted was not brought to criminal responsibility, but the crime was of minor or medium gravity; - General regime colonies
- the crime has grave consequences; - High security colonies
– recidivism, motivated crime (intentional). Convicts are also transferred here for non-compliance with the regime of a general purpose colony; - Special regime colonies
- those sentenced to life, dangerous repeat offenders, violators of the order of a maximum security colony. - Jail
. Serious crimes, the prisoner has been convicted again (or more) and the sentence exceeds 5 years.
The structure of the Russian penitentiary system also includes treatment and preventive institutions - the convict has tuberculosis, has mental problems, and is addicted to drug addiction.
"Goats"
Those who cooperated with the “owner” (the MLS administration) - supply managers, commandants, etc. In the “black” zones, where thieves hold the upper hand, the “goats” can even be isolated from the rest of the prisoners. In the “red” MLS, the “goats” have regime breaks and other privileges that distinguish them from other convicts. The phrase “you will answer for a “goat”” is from Zonov’s lexicon: calling a person a “goat” in prison if he is not one is a grave mistake, for this there must be an immediate “answer”, otherwise the person called in reality risks being transferred to the rank of “goats” "
Those who cooperated with the “owner” (the MLS administration) - supply managers, commandants, etc. In the “black” zones, where thieves hold the upper hand, the “goats” can even be isolated from the rest of the prisoners. In the “red” MLS, the “goats” have regime breaks and other privileges that distinguish them from other convicts. The phrase “you will answer for a “goat”” is from Zonov’s lexicon: calling a person a “goat” in prison if he is not one is a grave mistake, for this there must be an immediate “answer”, otherwise the person called in reality risks being transferred to the rank of “goats” "
Who is this creep in prison?
Behind barbed wire, this word has rather a negative connotation. The term “shnyr” in slang refers to convicts who voluntarily perform simple household chores for their cellmates. These include, for example, cleaning the premises and other duties that, according to internal rules, are assigned to prisoners on a first-come, first-served basis. For this, they receive small rewards from other prisoners in the form of food, cigarettes or money. Shnyri are not openly humiliated, but many inmates treat them with contempt, believing that a person who performs other people’s duties for pay is unworthy of respect.
Assignment to chores, which are much lighter compared to the duties of other prisoners, is often made on the initiative of the administration of the institution in exchange for loyalty and operational information. In these cases, the term “shnir” is used to mean “convict collaborating with prison authorities.” Sometimes such prisoners occupy minor positions in the structural units of the colony (orderlies, duty officers on towers between local zones, etc.). There are other meanings of the word “shnyr” in slang . For example, in some correctional institutions this is what they call camp guards.
"Roosters" or "drooped"
The lowest caste in the prison hierarchy. Not to say that they are numerous in percentage terms with other stripes, but the “low-down” can also include the down-at-heel convicts – “stuff” who don’t take care of themselves, aren’t washed, are dirty dressed. “Chushko”, like “roosters”, are shunned in the zone and their place is often also near the bucket. "Rooster", strictly speaking, is a passive homosexual. Either a “blue” (regardless of the active-passive position), who came as such from the outside, or an “offended” one already in the zone. The “roosters” do not have any rights in the zone; they are outcasts, from whom the other inmates try to distance themselves as much as possible - the “blues” have their own dishes with a hole and their own place closer to the toilet. All the dirty work in captivity - washing toilets, maintaining garbage pits and much more - is done by the "lowered". The word “rooster” and its related words - “chicken”, “chicken coop”, “comb” and all the others that are in some way connected with this bird - are very offensive towards a particular convicted person, they immediately require accountability , otherwise this status, just like with the “goat,” may stick to the prisoner, and irrevocably.
Origin of the term
Today the word “shnyr” is perceived as an element of informal vocabulary. In fact, it appeared in Tsarist Russia and initially had nothing to do with the criminal world. The origin can be traced to the verb “snoop” (or “snoop”), which means fussy walking back and forth, the desire to find out something about other people’s affairs, quickly moving the gaze from one object to another.
Before the abolition of serfdom, a “shnyr” was a courier, a messenger who could quickly deliver a message tens of kilometers away. At different times, the word was used to refer to servants who carried out any errands, and shoemakers.
“Sixes”, “shnyri”, “woolen” and “fuflyzhniki”
“Schestyorki” are servants, weak-willed people who are ready to carry out various kinds of instructions for a handout. Of course, no one respects the “Sixers”, since in the zone it’s every man for himself. The classic type of “sniff” is Blotter in the film “The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed,” and he has a nickname that matches his suit. The “shnyri” serve the thieves; in fact, they are the same as the “sixes”. In the absence of an “object of worship” they can easily be transferred to “omitted”. “Wool” are lawless people, either of their own free will or at the instigation of the “master”. Often these are thieves who behaved inappropriately. “Wool” “correct” prisoners are usually cut up or transferred to the category of “roosters”. “Buflyzhnik” - “who has made bullshit”, “bluffed” - a convict who has not paid in a timely manner for his loss in gambling for fun. Card and other debt in the zone is a sacred matter, so the fate of the insolvent “fuflyzhnik” is unenviable.
Comment
Soviet era and the “sixes”
During the Soviet Union, the term was transformed and used differently:
- Idleness
.
This is what they called a person who shunned work and walked around doing nothing all day: Snooping around doing nothing
; - Curiosity
.
A person who is interested in the personal lives of others: Snoops (sticks) his nose into other people's affairs
; - Thief
. A “slimy” type by nature who looks for things that are out of place and steals.
In the simple system of the prison hierarchy, the “shnyr” occupies a special place. Who he is can be described as follows: a prisoner who cleans the cell, the production room and performs routine work that other prisoners must do in turn.
Who are the divers in the zone?
What does a diver in the zone mean? A "diver" or "gasser" is the name given to a prisoner who clears the air in a cell after releasing gases from authorities or other prisoners. Usually physically weak prisoners who do not know how to stand up for themselves become “divers”.
Another reason for transferring to this caste may be a mistake in front of other prisoners. When someone in the cell wants to pass gas, the command is loudly given: “The guy wants to fart” or “The guy is ready to fart.” At this moment, the “diver” must run up to the speaker and press his face tightly to his buttocks, absorbing all the emitted gases into his mouth. After that, with his mouth closed, he runs to the window and lets them out.
If an unpleasant odor still appears in the chamber, then it is considered that the “diver” did not cope with his job. For this he can be beaten.
Read not only about how detainees live in prison, but also about the tattoos they give to detainees in prison.
In Dahl's dictionary
and south zap. Thumb. novg. to snoop, meddle, rush quietly and fussily back and forth; run and scout, look out, ask at hand; snoop around, bol. run, but snoop, creep. Snoop where, from where, sneak, leave, hide, slip away. Bees and flies are still scurrying around. Krylov snoops up and down between people. Stars dart across the sky, falling. He snoops around everywhere, he needs to know everything. Snooping, snooping, action according to the verb. Shnyra vol. shnyr, shnyr m. symb. Vologda creep, sly, rascal; | spy, spy and gossip. Snooped about. Same. Sneak around chickens. resin snoop around, meaning search, hunt for something, find out at hand, find out. Shnyrok m. dive or hole, loophole. Hive splint, entrance. Ladders from the stove into the stove bench, openings for the passage of flame, burnouts. Sneaky, sneaky, thieving, sly.
In Vasmer Max's dictionary
snoop shnyrit “to surreptitiously track, sniff out”, shnyra “a spy, one who snoops”, Ukrainian. shniriti “sneak, dive (about a duck)”, blr. snoop, snoop, while in the word pereshnykhirit “to scout everywhere,” pitch. (Dobrovolsky), extension presented. Onomatopoeic origin (Transformation, Works I, 102). We can talk not about a historical, but at most about an “elementary” relationship with him. schnurren “buzz, purr”, Middle-century-N. snurren “to make noise, whistle”, contrary to Groth, (Phil. Raz. 1, 468), Goryaev (ES 424). It is unacceptable to compare with snovat (Potebnya, RFV 4, 207), as well as with other historical sources. snoðra, snuðra “sniff, move your nose” (Grotto, ibid.). •• (Increased expressiveness and proximity to onomatopoeic formations may be of a secondary nature in this case, since it seems more likely to explain snooping from diving with the expressive sh-; cf. similar to scalding
In the dictionary Complete accentuated paradigm according to A. A. Zaliznya
snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping, snooping
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