This book explores the path dependencies that have shaped the prison systems of the former communist countries of Europe following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Reflecting the varied ethno-religious populations of the region, the collection details how ethnic minority prisoners were managed under different communist regimes and how this changed after the fall of the Berlin Wall. In chapters written by authors from fifteen countries, it explores past and present aspects of penal governance, gang culture, Council of Europe leverage, geopolitics and prisoner experiences. The authors are drawn from across the disciplines of anthropology, criminology, geography, history, modern languages and literature, and sociology. The collection shines a light on prison systems that are often overlooked in discussions of European penalty. The collection addresses the question of whether ‘post-communist’ is an appropriate label to attach to these prison systems and, in line with the current imperative to decentre Russian and East European area studies, it brings together research from a diverse range of the former communist states of Europe. This book will be of interest to criminologists, historians, and social scientists and a general readership interested in Russia, and the countries of East Central Europe and the Balkans.

Brendan Humphreys is a senior researcher and an associate professor of East European studies at the Aleksanteri Institute, Helsinki University, Finland. He has co-edited two collections on Russian modernization and international relations, and published widely on the history and politics of the Balkans and Eastern Europe. 
Judith Pallot is Professor Emerita at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom where she taught for forty years.  In 2018, she was awarded a European Research Council Advanced grant to research ethnicity in the prison system of the former communist countries in Europe., which she took to the Aleksanteri Institute, Helsinki. University  She is the author of numerous books and articles on USSR  and Russian Federation.