The hunched thief killed the "thief-in-law", the jail administration was just calmly watching.
For reference. The shriveled ones ("ssucheniye") are convicts working for the prison administration.
The word appeared in prison jargon around the age of 30.
If we transfer it to the modern non–prison world, the crouched are all those who work for the government and the system of coercion, try or support its legitimacy (legality), and bring up subordination to the system.
Those who do not belong to the crouched ones are: the official employees of the enforcement system are cops, and so on.
