ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the process of gathering new knowledge on Russia's penal system and begins by answering the question that I am asked most often: why Russian prisons? This is followed by a description of the prison system and the methodology (initial research plan and pilot trip). The chapter concludes by describing the unusual main fieldwork: an intense five-month period of close-up observation that included living in the natural setting of four prison colonies for men, and how the data were analysed.
