Russian Prison Leg Tattoos and Foot Inscriptions Explained

Tattoos on the legs are characteristic of the otritsaly (“rejecters,” inmates hostile to prison authorities and administration). They are placed on the knees, shins, outer side of the feet, and ankles. The catalog of leg tattoos is poorer and is limited to images of shackles, ornamental knee stars, and simple symbols (small stars, swastikas, skulls, hammer and sickle).

Most often, tattoos appear in the form of texts. Below are the most popular examples (tattoo placement — shin, outer side of the foot, ankle).

• Without major repairs — 100,000 kilometers.

• I will trample and torment the whole evil breed… (addressed to parents or relatives).

• Wife, wash; mother-in-law, wipe.

• I go where there is no law.

• Whoever survived will become happy; whoever died already became happy.

• For murder.

• Legs are tired of walking under convoy.

• They are tired.

• Stop, think, and only then walk.

• Drink my blood, bitches, it is poison for you.

• Trample the communists!

• Step by step — closer to death.

• Walking cheerfully through life, live — but crush the bedbug.

• We walked to our beloved, but ended up in hell.

• I survived where mammoths froze.

• I survived where the mammoth died out.

Sometimes the text is presented more originally: a complete phrase is placed across both legs. For example:

Criminals and Crimes. Laws of the Criminal World. Customs, Language, Tattoos.

Text consisting of ten letters is tattooed on the toes:
“Sevlag NKVD,” “MVD Is My Coffin,” “I Am a Slave of Kolyma,” “Zek of Vorkuta,” “I Am Going on a Job,” “Forgive Me, Mother,” “Son of the Camps,” “I Am the Daughter of Sin,” “Death to the Bitch” (variations are possible).