Prisons,politics and organized crime: the case of Kyrgyzstan

Based on unique empirical data including interviews with inmates and criminals, the article discusses the informal governance system in the prison and its link with organized crime in Kyrgyzstan. It accomplishes two main tasks. First it looks at the inmate governance structure and demonstrates the change that reflects the general transformation in the thieves’ world and second, it shows how the political environment shapes internal prison dynamics and demonstrates the impact of regime transitions on penal institutions. It argues that political transitions disturb the existing power equilibrium between political elites and criminal leaders that leads to an attempt to curb the thieves’ influence in the prison that in turn leads to the prison riots.