Slave labour and criminal cultures

THE women of Pussy Riot may not have sparked much of a debate on the virtues of feminism and radical art in Russia. But one of them, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, has prompted a wide-ranging examination of abuses in the country’s prisons by publishing an open letter describing how prisoners are routinely overworked and kept in inhumane condition. This has set off a storm of indignation.