Prisoners seek to win 'Miss Gulag' crown

MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- Life behind bars in a Russian women's prison is not glamorous. Convicted murderers serve time alongside thieves and drug dealers with few luxuries.

But inmates of Women's Correctional Colony No. 5 are undeterred. Every year, this prison in western Russia stages a contest to find the most beautiful inmate.

"I think a woman should be pretty when she is in prison, just as much as when she's free," said 19-year-old Anna Ivanova, as she put on silver eyeshadow and frosted lipstick.

Dressed in a white lacy dress with her hair curled and pinned, it's hard to imagine she has still a year of her sentence to serve.

Contestants are judged on skills such as hairdressing. Some sing their own songs or show judges how they have choreographed their own dance.

Some competitors dress in blue two-piece outfits for a belly-dancing routine. One, dressed in black with a red flower in her hair, did a Spanish dance.

The contest is not just about looking beautiful to win a crown: The pageant has become an important way for imprisoned Russian women to show good behavior and perhaps even win their freedom.

Parole is not a prize -- winners get warm blankets, chocolates, and tea -- but the prison chief considers the pageant an important step toward rehabilitation. Watch the prisoners try to impress the judges. »

"They are involved in social activities, which is one of the criteria for earning early parole," said Colonel Elena Kuznetsova, director of the prison in Vishny Volochek, about 217 miles (350 km) northwest of Moscow.

"And they are women," she said. "Regardless of where they are -- in correctional institutions or free -- they need to feel like women."

Backstage before the pageant, Tatiana Yanzytova confesses that she's nervous.

"This is my first pageant," she says. "I wouldn't have this opportunity on the outside." E-mail to a friend

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