Two teenage inmates sit on their beds inside a dormitory at the Udmurtia Educational Labor Colony located in Mozhga, RU. The blue wall behind the boys is painted with a smurf doll and a package of Marlboro cigarettes. In 1994 the colony held 300 juvenile boys from 12 to 18 years of age. According to the administration a small number of the boys were incarcerated for violent crimesand more than half of them were incarcerated for theft. Russia has the second highest number of incarcerated citizens in the world, behind the United States. According to a 2009 report funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the Russian Federation had the highest rate of incarceration for juvenile offenders in the world.
Photo by Chuck Nacke