zek

plural zeks

1. A prisoner at a Russian prison, especially (historical) at a Soviet labour camp.First known use 20th c.

   Every prisoner who recants is a potential influence on other zeks to do likewise.

   1988, Natan Sharansky, translated by Stefani Hoffman, Fear No Evil, page 235

   1 more example

   There are the zeks, the survivors of the gulags, some honest about their experiences, others still deluded or traumatised decades later.

   2004 February 8, Jason Burke, The Observer