The sociologist Judith Pallot talks to Laurie Taylor about a study based on extensive interviews with prisoners and officers in different regions of Russia. She finds that the vast distances between prisons and womens' homes imposes harsh penalties on women and their families. They're joined by the criminologist, Dr Sharon Shalev.

Also 'Bolt Wars': Lisa Bogardus spent 16 months researching and observing the rock climbing world. She describes a battle for the cliffs in which climbers clash about the need to reduce risk and danger.

Read an article from a Moscow based art critic on the Pussy Riot case below as well as more content and free learning.

Thinking Allowed is on BBC Radio 4 on Wednesdays at 4.00pm and repeated on Monday mornings at 12.15am. Full transmission details, and listen again links, can be found on bbc.co.uk

Academic insights and content

Prisoners of conscience or hooligans? Creative commons imageCredit: aktivioslolicensedfor reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Why are the Pussy Riot girls still in prison? Yelena Fedotova explores the context to the Russian rock band's inprisonment and what happened after  Read more : Prisoners of conscience or hooligans?

Doing prison: Experiences of women in the UK prison system Creative commons imageCredit: Girlsbehindbarsexhibition under CC-BY-NC licence

Does prison work for women inmates? Abigail Rowe spent time exploring the experiences of female prisoners to find out.  Read more : Doing prison: Experiences of women in the UK prison system

Behind bars and far from home: Experiences of Russian young offenders Creative commons imageCredit: Oxana Maher under CC-BY-SA licence

Sometimes thousands of miles from home - if they have a home - and frightened. What is life really like for Russian young offenders, and...  Read more : Behind bars and far from home: Experiences of Russian young offenders

Introducing the social sciences Course Copyrighted imageCredit: Alain Lacroix | Dreamstime.com

An ideal introduction to the disciplines that make up the social sciences - psychology, social policy, criminology, geography, environment, politics, international studies, economics and sociology.After...  Visit prospectus for Introducing the social sciences