FORCED LABOR CAMPS AND PRISIONS IN THE USSR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP84-00825R000300020001-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 25
• Document Creation Date: November 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 17, 1999
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: December 1, 1972
• Content Type: IR

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Secret
No Foreign Dissem
DIRECTORATE OF
INTELLIGENCE
Intelligence Report
Forced Labor Camps and Prisons in the USSR
Secret
CIA/BGI GR 73-1
December 1972
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Crime and social dissidence constitute an increasing
problem for the Soviet government. During the
Brezhnev-Kosygin regime, a series of repressive
legislative measures aimed at curbing this "anti-
social" behavior has been instituted, and the penal
system has undergone revision and expansion. Since
1965, the number of forced laborers has increased at a
rate that is double the rate of increase for the
population as a whole; at least 85 new forced labor
camps have been constructed, the size of many
existing camps has been increased, and yet all
available information indicates that existing penal
facilities are crowded. At least 2.2 million persons are
now confined in over 1,000 forced labor camps and
170 large urban prisons in the USSR. The entire penal
system may encompass well over 3 million people, tak-
ing into account the network of local detention facilities
and other types of punishment without confinement.
Forced labor continues to be the backbone of the
Soviet penal system. Soviet penologists justify the
economic exploitation of prisoners by the theory that
socially useful labor is the key to rehabilitation. In
practice, prisoners are forced to work in places and un-
der conditions which are more likely to benefit the
Soviet economy than rehabilitate the prisoner. The
greatest concentration _ of labor camps and prisons oc-
curs in the Urals, Northwest, and Siberian regions of
the RSFSR.
This report was prepared by the Office of Basic and Geographic Intelligence and
coordinated within CIA.
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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
Directorate of Intelligence
December 1972
FORCED LABOR CAMPS AND PRISONS IN THE USSR
1. Crime and other acts of "anti-social" behavior
appear to be increasing in the USSR. Economic crimes
and acts of hooliganism are openly discussed by the
Soviet information media, and samizdat (under-
ground press) reports the conviction of many indi-
viduals for "political crimes." The Soviet penal
system has felt the impact of this upswing in criminal
and dissident activity. This is apparent in the rash of
recent legislation governing punishment and
confinement, and from the accounts of former inmates
and their relatives which describe various camps and
tell of the conditions within them.
2. This report presents information on crime and on
conditions within Soviet penal institutions as reported
in the Soviet news media and in accounts of former
prisoners contained in samizdat and other open-source
literature. It outlines the Soviet system of punishment
as provided for in recent legislation and gives an
estimate of the approximate size and distribution of
the current prisoner population and penal facilities in
the. USSR based on the sources noted above as well as
other intelligence documents and information.
Penal and Legal Reforms
3. Following Stalin's death in 1953 the Soviet
government began to remodel its legal system. By 1958
a revision of the "Basic Principles of Criminal Law
and Procedure" was promulgated, and during the
period 1959-61 new codes of criminal procedure
replaced older codes in all the union republics. In this
reform only two categories of penal
institutions-prisons and corrective labor
colonies-were retained, and all of the former forced
labor camps were designated corrective labor colonies.
In theory the labor colony was to accord more
importance to rehabilitation and less to punishment
and economic exploitation; in actuality, however, the
distinction between a colony and a camp is probably
only a matter of semantics.
4. It appears that the movement toward the
liberalization of Soviet law had passed its peak by
1966. A number of reforms decreed since then (see
Appendix A) have tightened the regime's control. In
1966 anti-parasite laws were passed and in 1968 law
enforcement was recentralizcd at the national level
under the newly reconstituted Ministry of Internal
Affairs (MVD), thereby making the militia (the civil
police force) a more effective instrument of criminal
control. These developments were followed by the
introduction in 1969 .of new penal legislation, "The
Principles of Corrective Labor Legislation of the USSR
and the Union Republics." Finally, in 1970, the USSR
Ministry of Justice was restored, having been
abolished in 1956. All of these actions signaled that in
addition to recentralizing control in Moscow the
Soviet leadership had adopted a policy of firmer law
enforcement.
Crime
5. In the USSR the state is concerned with three
categories of crime-political, economic, and
common. Political crimes cover a broad spectrum,
ranging from treason and espionage to anti-Soviet
agitation and propaganda. Convicted religious
dissidents, such as members of the Independent
Baptists and Jehovah's Witnesses sects, are handled as
political prisoners although they are not officially
classified as such. Although a number of political
crimes may carry the death penalty, this penalty is
never mandatory.
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6. Economic crimes involve such acts as the theft,
embezzlement, destruction, or willful abuse of state
property. Carelessness that sets the stage for
subsequent crimes is also considered a crime. The
Soviet press occasionally contains accounts of bribery,
falsification of reports, party-state complicity in
concealing corruption, misuse of public office and
state funds, and patronage in appointments. The
gravity of certain types of economic crimes is reflected
in the fact that the death penalty can he imposed on
conviction.
7. Common crime is a serious and increasing social
problem in the Soviet Union; it is aggravated by
juvenile delinquency, alcoholism, and recidivism
among criminals. According to the Minister of
Internal Affairs, Nikolai Shchelokov, petty crimes,
such as hooliganism (disorderly conduct), robbery,
and theft, are the most prevalent common crimes in
the USSR. The category of common crime also
includes more serious acts such as murder, rape, and
assault, which are usually not reported in the Soviet
press. Drunkenness is associated with many crimes,
especially those committed by juveniles. According to
the Soviet press, 56 percent of the thefts and 70
percent of the armed assault cases heard in RSFSR
courts in 1971 were committed by intoxicated persons.
More than 90 percent of the hooligan acts committed
are attributable to drunkenness.
8. The Ministry of Internal Affairs indicated in 1971
that 30 percent of all crimes in the USSR are
committed by recidivists (those with a previous
criminal record). The highest rates of recidivism
appear among those who have been released from
strict and special labor camps. Some Soviet penologists
propose to solve the problem by lengthening the
duration of prison sentences in order to permit the "re-
educational" process to take effect.
The Penal System
9. Punishments which can be imposed. by Soviet
criminal courts are of three kinds: basic, mixed, and
supplementary. Basic punishments are death,
imprisonment, forced labor without imprisonment,
and social censure. Mixed punishments are exile,
banishment, disqualification from certain
occupations, fines, dismissal from office, and making
amends for the harm caused. Mixed punishments can
be imposed on their own or as supplementary
punishment along with one of the basic punishments.
Confiscation of property and loss of rank are
supplementary punishments and can be imposed only
in addition to basic punishments.
10. Imprisonment in the Soviet Union may range
from 3 months to 15 years, with the sentence normally
served in a forced labor camp. There are four major
types of camps with increasingly severe regimes:
general, intensified, strict, and special (see Appendix
13). The system also includes "educational" labor
camps and colony settlements. Persons convicted for
the first time of serious crimes serve their sentences in
intensified camps; those convicted of serious political
crimes, or who have previously been imprisoned, serve
their sentences in strict camps; and those considered to
be "especially dangerous recidivists," or those whose
death sentences have been commuted, serve their
sentences in special regime camps. Some political
prisoners and hardened criminals fall into this latter
category and serve their sentences in special regime
camps. Milder types of regimes are found in the
general camps, the "educational" labor camps for
minors, and the colony settlements holding those who
have shown signs of reformation. According to a recent
defector the camps with milder regimes are being
increasingly used to accomodate the influx of juvenile
and first-time offenders.
11. Forced labor without confinement is widely
imposed for minor offenses. Sentences may range from
I month to 1 year, during which the offender is forced
to work at his usual place of employment or in a
specified job in the vicinity of his residence. In
addition, deductions are taken from his earnings, and
the time spent at forced labor is riot credited to his
labor record. A 1970 law stipulates that a person
convicted of a crime, the penalty for which is 1 to 3
years of confinement, may be given a suspended
sentence. The law further stipulates, however, that the
Ministry of Internal Affairs may assign the individual
to work anywhere in the country. A Soviet legal
journal indicated that for the first quarter of 1971
nearly 11 percent of all those convicted were given
suspended sentences together with obligatory work
assignments.
12. Although prisons are used mainly for the pre-
trial detention of prisoners, they may also be used to
confine political offenders, dangerous recidivists, or
labor camp inmates who violate camp discipline.
According to R. Nishanov, a member of the Supreme
Soviet, however, less than I percent of those convicted
serve their time in prisons. Unlike forced labor camps,
prisons have only two regimes-general and the more
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rigorous special regime. In addition to large prisons,
there are small local jails in most cities used for
preliminary detention and as transit prisons by the
militia. The Committee of State Security (KGB)
probably maintains a small network of detention
facilities in addition to the small local jails run by the
MVD. One of the larger prisons in Moscow is the
KGB's Lubyanka; the large Butyrka prison is operated
by the MVD. In addition, most cities maintain over-
night "sobering-up stations" to confine drunks, who
are usually released the following day.
13. The Soviet system of exile is similar to that used
by the tsars, the exile being forced to transfer his
residence to a specified area, usually in Siberia or the
Far North. Within the specified area the exile lives as a
free person although he may find limited
opportunities for employment in farming or
lumbering. Among the dissidents who have been
exiled are Andrei Amalrik, Larissa Daniel, Konstantin
Babitsky, and Pavel Litvinov. Amalrik, author of
Involuntary journey to Siberia, was charged with
parasitism and exiled to a kolkhoz (collective farm)
near Tomsk for 2' /2 years. Parasitism is defined as
''malicious refusal by persons who are leading a
parasitic way of life . . . to take a job and desist from
a parasitic existence." Anti-parasite laws for union
republics were introduced from 1956 to 1961. In
1970 the RSFSR Supreme Soviet passed a new anti-
parasite law; presumably it was intended to facilitate
a major drive against citizens not engaged in "socially
useful" labor. Sentences for those convicted of
parasitism are now more severe, requiring 1 year in
either prison or a forced labor camp.
14. Banishment is a supplemental form of
punishment used to prohibit individuals from living in
certain designated places for periods of 2 to 5 years.
Yuli Daniel, for example, having been confined in a
forced labor camp for dissident writing, is now banned
from the larger cities of western Russia. With the
exception of these cities, or other specified localities in
which they are forbidden to live by court sentence,
banished persons can normally select their place of
residence and type of work. Entire groups have been
banished in the past. The Volga Germans and
Crimean Tatars, banished during World War II,
remain, in effect, banished from their homelands.
1.5. Confinement of political dissidents and other
individuals in mental institutions has been described
by former inmates as the most morally repulsive form
of political repression in the Soviet Union. The regime
resorts to using psychiatric hospitals to circumvent the
necessity of an open political trial, avoiding the
adverse publicity that political trials arouse, especially
outside the country. At least 19 institutions have been
mentioned in samizdat literature as being associated
with the treatment or confinement of political
prisoners (see Map 1). Prominent individuals such as
former Major General Grigorenko and Zhores
Medvedcv, a noted biologist, have been detained for
psychiatric treatment. Medvedev was released after
his confinement aroused the indignation of prominent
figures of both the Soviet and foreign scientific and
intellectual community. Grigorenko, a former civil-
rights activist, was declared psychotic and remains
confined in a mental hospital. The malevolence of this
treatment is reflected in Grigorenko's own words
concerning his confinement in the Leningrad Special
Psychiatric Hospital: "Political prisoners are kept in
the same wards with badly mentally deranged
inmates; on refusal to renounce their ideas, the former
are subjected to physical torture under the pretext of
medical treatment." Solzhenitsyn bitterly condemns
this action calling it "spiritual murder" and a
variation of the gas chamber, but even more cruel.
Distribution of Penal Facilities and
Prisoners
16. An extensive network of penal facilities stretches
across the USSR. More than 1,000 forced labor camps
and over 170 large urban prisons have been located
(see Maps 2 and 3, Appendix E). It is estimated that
the total number of prisoners held within them
amounts to approximately 1.8 million persons in
forced labor camps and 0.4 million in large urban
prisons (see Map 4, Appendix E). These 2.2 million
prisoners represent nearly one percent of the total
Soviet population.
17. It is estimated that at least one million
additional persons are subject to various other
restrictions or confinement. These include persons in
local jails and KGB prisons; criminals and political
prisoners confined to psychiatric hospitals; individuals
and groups exiled and banished; those committed to
forced labor without confinement; former labor camp
inmates detained in the region of their camps, youths
confined in "educational" labor camps, and
alcoholics confined for treatment and" reeducation."
18. The largest concentrations of prisoners are found
in the Urals, Northwest, and West Siberian regions of
the Russian Republic. Roughly 750,000 prisoners are
incarcerated in nearly 400 camps and more than 30
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Psychiatric Facilities Associated with Political Prisoners
prisons in these regions. In the Urals and West Siberia,
the prisoners are concentrated in industrial centers
such as Angarsk, Barnaul, Chelyabinsk, and Nizhniv
Tagil. Prisoners in the Northwest region are in forced
labor camps scattered throughout the logging areas
and in some cities.
19. The distribution of prisoners by union republic
does not conform to the distribution of population.
Complete crime statistics are not published for the
Soviet Union, and hence there is no way to ascertain
whether the disparities result from different crime rates
within the republics or from the transfer of prisoners
from one republic to another. There are approximately
12 prisoners per thousand population in the Russian
Republic, but only 4 per thousand in the Ukraine and
Belorussia. Kazakhstan has II prisoners per thousand;
the Central Asian republics have only 4 per thousand.
20. The disparities in the distribution of prisoner
population tend to corroborate other information
about prisoners being transferred from the non-
Russian republics of the European USSR to the eastern
RSFSR, Kazakhstan, and Central Asia. Such transfers
are a source of irritation among the intellectuals of
some nationalities, especially among a growing
number of Ukrainian writers, journalists, and
scientists. Soviet laws stipulate that only recidivists
and those guilty of dangerous state crimes can be
transported beyond their own republic boundaries.
21. In contrast to the United States, where many
large prisons-particularly those of the federal
system-are located away from urban areas, prisons in
the USSR are exclusively an urban phenomenon. Large
prisons are present in all but 5 of the 45 Soviet cities
with populations in excess of 400,000. In the
urbanized Central region, the Northwest RSFSR, and
Central Asia, urban prisons account for more than 25
percent of all those incarcerated. The more populous
cities, such as Moscow and Leningrad, have at least
four large prisons. In some cities such as Odessa, labor
camps have been built adjacent to old prisons, and
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together they constitute massive penal facilities. From
the evidence available, it appears that most Soviet
prisons were constructed during the tsarist era. A
number of new cities established during the Soviet
period, such as Berezniki, Magnitogorsk, Nakhodka,
and Navoi, do not have large prisons, but labor camps
are situated in or near them. There are no indications
that the Soviets have constructed any additional large
prisons in recent years.
The Forced Labor System
22. During the Stalinist era forced laborers were
considered expendable and were wastefully exploited
in low-return, labor-intensive activities. According to
Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the camps held 12 to 15
million inmates at their peak in the early 1950's.
Others estimate that the number of prisoners during
this period exceeded 20 million. The magnitude of the
system has been drastically reduced since Stalin's day.
While the penal system remains harsh, inhumane, and
largely lacking in the rehabilitative character that
Soviet authorities ascribe to it, there is no evidence
that the wanton expenditure of human life
characteristic of earlier times prevails today.
23. According to Soviet penal theory work is not
regarded as punishment, but rather as a rehabilitative
process to which the prisoner has a right and for which
he is compensated. However, deductions for food,
housing, and clothing, as well as for income tax are
taken from his meager allotment, with the result that
little or nothing remains. Despite meager food rations,
prisoners arc required to perform taxing work,
especially those in the strict and special camps.
24. An assessment of the economic rationality of the
contemporary Soviet forced labor system would
require far more data than are currently available
regarding the costs associated with the extensive
physical facilities and the large numbers of support
personnel required to run the penal system. The forced
labor system does return to the Soviet economy a
portion of the costs of the overall penal system.
Moreover, the ability to shift prisoners into areas with
short labor supply to perform essential construction or
industrial functions is a profitable dividend.
25. Under Stalin an elaborate network of forced
labor camps was established throughout the country.
Particularly notorious were those that were situated in
the Far North and Northeast, especially along the
shores of the White Sea and in the basin of the Kolyma
River. Although still widely distributed, camps are
now being increasingly concentrated into the more
developed areas of the country, where labor needs are
great. Even in Siberia, where forced labor is still used
selectively in the north, most camps are concentrated
around the urban centers astride the Trans-Siberian
Railroad.
26. Numerous Siberian, Ural, Central Asian, and
Kazakh cities' are actively utilized as dumping
grounds for prisoners from the western regions of the
country. Most of these cities have at least four labor
camps and at least one large urban prison. Omsk and
Tomsk-notorious as centers of forced labor in the
Tsarist and Stalinist eras-each have seven camps;
Barnaul and Krasnoyarsk have five camps each.
Ninety percent of all forced labor camps are associ-
ated with industrial, logging, or construction activity.
Mining and agricultural activities arc carried on in
the remaining 10 percent of the camps (see Map 5,
Appendix E),
Industrial Camps
27. There are more than 530 camps associated with
some form of industrial production, and they account
for over 50 percent of the total labor camp population
(more than 900,000 prisoners). Industrial camps arc
engaged chiefly in woodworking, raw material and
building material processing, and a wide variety of
fabricating industries. The region with the largest
number of prisoners involved in industrial activities is
the Volga, where approximately 113,000 prisoners are
engaged in various types of industry. There appears to
be increased use of forced labor in industry in the
Volga region, where 9 out of 57 industrial camps have
been constructed since 1965.
28. All 13 camps in the Baltic region engage in some
form of industrial activity, and all but one of the 12
Transcaucasian camps are industry-related. Most of
these are probably older camps surviving from the
Stalinist era. Other industrial camps that are remnants
of this era appear in the heart of the European USSR
in the Central, Central Black Earth, Donets-Dnepr,
and Southwest Ukraine regions. Industrial camps
constitute 80 percent of the camps in these regions and
contain over 200,000 prisoners. Almost all industrial
camps are located in urban areas.
Logging Camps
29. Logging camps account for about 400,000
prisoners, or roughly 22 percent of the total camp
1Angarsk, Barnaul, Chelyabinsk, Kemerovo, Krasnoyarsk,
Nizhniy Tagil, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Solikamsk, Sverdlovsk, Tomsk,
and Tyumen' have heavy concentrations of forced labor.
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population. Over 260 camps are concentrated in the
Northwest, Siberian, and Ural regions. In some places
these camps are clustered into large colonies of 15 to
30 camps each and have rather large sawmilling
operations associated with them. The largest logging
colonies are near Zheleznodorozhnvy in the Komi
ASSR; just southeast of Plesetsk in Arkhangel'sk
Oblast'; northeast of Kirov; north and east of
Berezniki in the Urals; east of Novokuznetsk; and
northeast of Kansk near the Trans-Siberian Railroad.
Certain places such as Ivdel' (population 30,000) in
Sverdlovsk Oblast' and Mugreyevskiv (population
approximately 10,000) in Ivanovo Oblast' are almost
exclusively logging and sawmilling settlements, with
nearly all activity being carried on by forced labor.
Unlike industrial and construction camps, logging
camps have remained stable in numbers in recent
years.
Construction Camps
30. There are about 120 camps associated with
various types of construction projects, overwhelmingly
in urban areas. They account for about 225,000
prisoners, or roughly 13 percent of the camp total. The
camps are most heavily concentrated in Central Asia,
Kazakhstan, East Siberia, the Far East, and the
Northwest. No adtive construction projects utilizing
forced labor have been reported in the Baltic, South,
Southwest, and Transcaucasus regions. Forced
laborers in the construction industry work on a wide
variety of projects with the majority engaged in
general urban construction, such as apartments and
public and institutional buildings. A number of small
urban areas (50,000 to 100,000 in population) are
almost entirely dependent upon forced labor for all
major construction. These include Magadan and
Petrovka in the Far East, Kvzyl and Pokrovsk in
Siberia, Navoi, Shevchenko, and Zarafshan in Central
Asia, and Vorkuta in the Far North. The same is true
in several slightly larger cities such as Arkhangel'sk,
Pc tropavlovsk-Kamchat ski y, Syktyvkar, and
Tyumen'. In Bukhara, forced laborers have
constructed the hospital, the Intourist hotel, and the
airport, and are presently involved in building a
library, Party headquarters, and a university.
Construction of entire cities by forced labor-Navoi
and Shevchenko, for example-is reminiscent of the
days of Stalin when such cities as Magadan, Noril'sk,
and Vorkuta were erected.
31. Forced labor is actively used in the construction
of a number of large-scale industrial enterprises. In the
Central Asian city of Navoi, for example, a large
chemical combine is being constructed largely through
the use of forced labor, while in Astrakhan' a
fabrication plant is being built. At Mogilev in
Belorussia, forced laborers have been extensively used
in construction of one of the world's largest polyester
plants. The extensive Lepel' excavator repair works
was probably also constructed by forced labor.
32. A number of camps, most of which are engaged
in construction, have been located in proximity to
sensitive facilities such as atomic installations,
shipyards, and ICBM sites. However, there is no
evidence of direct utilization of these prisoners within
the facilities.
33. Forced labor was used extensively during the
Stalin years in transportation projects, especially in the
construction of railroads such as the Salekhard-Igarka
line. Other construction projects, such as the Baltic-
White Sea Canal, consumed large numbers of forced
laborers. There is little evidence that forced labor is
widely utilized at present in constructing roads,
railroads, or other modes of transport.
Other Categories of Camps
34, Camps engaged in mining, agriculture, and
other economic activities account for an estimated
200,000 prisoners or 11 percent of the total.
Approximately 100,000 prisoners are confined in
nearly 60 mining camps scattered in various economic
regions. Fifteen are concentrated in Kazakhstan.
Several of these camps are associated with gold
mining, such as the large camps at the Aksu,
Kushmurun, and Stepnyak goldfields. There are also
manganese, asbestos, and phosphorus mines using
forced labor in Kazakhstan. The Muruntau goldfield
in Uzbekistan uses forced laborers. Coal is shaft mined
by forced labor at several sites including the notorious
mines at Vorkuta.
The Expansion of Forced Labor Since 1965
35. At least 85 camps have been constructed since
1965 (see Map 6, Appendix E). In addition, the size of
sonic established camps has been expanded by the
construction of more barracks. Together, these new
facilities would provide space for well over 180,000
additional prisoners, an increase of more than 10
percent in the forced labor population. During this
period the Soviet population increased by 5.6 per-
cent. The current expansion reflects the rising inci-
dence of criminal and social disruption and the
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Soviet concept that constructive labor is an essential
element of social rehabilitation.
36. According to some reports, the physical
configuration of several new camps differs markedly
from the older ones. Whereas the majority of older
camps are comprised of one-story buildings resembling
military barracks, several of the newer camps depart
from this standard model by incorporating modern
multistory apartment-like buildings into the camp
design.
37. The West Siberian, Volga, and Far Eastern
regions have the largest number of newly constructed
camps. West Siberia added 14 camps with capacity for
about 32,000 prisoners, the Volga region 15 camps
with a capacity for 25,000 prisoners, and the Far East
14 camps with a capacity for nearly 20,000 prisoners.
In these regions several administrative subdivisions
have had moderate to substantial outmigrations of
population during the past decade, while much of
Siberia and the Far East have experienced problems
attracting and retaining labor. The construction of
new camps in these regions may reflect a special effort
to counter the nagging problem of labor turnover.
38. No camps are known to have been constructed
in the Baltic, Southern Ukraine, and Transcaucasus
regions since 1965, while the Central, Moldavian, and
Belorussian regions have had only nominal amounts of
new construction. These regions generally correspond
with those regions having the fewest number of forced
laborers, and with the exception of the Central region,
all are non-Russian republics. Only in Central Asia
and Kazakhstan, among the non-Russian republics,
have substantial numbers of new camps been
constructed. This anomaly may possibly be explained
by the labor shortage existing in the area. Muslims are
reluctant to seek industrial employment, and therefore
prisoners are being used in that capacity.
39. At least one-half of the new camps are involved
in various types of construction projects such as the
aluminum plant at Krasnoyarsk, the machine-
building plant at Pavlodar, the chemical combine at
Navoi, and large fabrication plants at Astrakhan',
Saransk, and Surgut in Tyumen' Oblast', and
Dimitrovgrad (formerly Melekess) on the Volga River.
A large plant is under construction at Mikhaylovka in
Irkutsk Oblast', and a large-scale project that is
probably related to mining is being constructed north
of Zaybaykal'sk on the Sino-Soviet border. A number
of newly constructed camps are also found in areas
where forced labor is utilized extensively on general
urban construction projects. Cities in this cate-
gory are Kagul in Moldavia, Lepel' in Belorussia,
Navoi, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, Slavyanka, and
Tyumen'.
40. Nearly 30 of the camps constructed since 1965
support various industries, including construction
materials and woodworking. These camps can
accommodate approximately 75,000 additional
prisoners in the West Siberian, Volga, and Central
Asian regions. Although some logging and mining
camps have been constructed since 1965, they are
probably replacements for camps abandoned in
depleted areas.
Living Conditions in Labor Camps and Prisons
41. Living conditions in camps and prisons vary
according to the type of regime, location, quality of
administration, and type of economic specialization,
but on the whole prison life is extremely primitive and
burdensome. There are indications that the conditions
described in Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of
Ivan Denisovich, which deals with labor camps of
the Stalin era, may still be a widespread reality.
Prisoners, especially those serving in camps with severe
regimes, constantly struggle with the inhumanly small
food supply, overcrowding, harsh treatment by ad-
ministrative personnel, and taxing work loads.
Food
42. The shortage of food is the most pressing
problem of prisoners in Soviet camps and prisons. The
typical camp and prison diet is monotonous,
consisting essentially of black bread, fish, wheat gruel,
potatoes, cabbage soup, and small quantities of meat
and sugar. Animal fats, fruits, and vegetables are
seldom provided. Yuli Daniel, a former inmate in the
Pot'ma2 camps, related that his food was tasteless,
monotonous, and contained few vitamins.
43. Food consumption of working prisoners varies
between 2400 and 2800 calories per day, while the
punishment ration is a meager 1300 calories (see
Appendix Q. Nutrition experts consider 4,000 calories
per day to be a reasonable standard for persons
engaged in heavy manual labor. The meager ration of
those in camp punishment cells is described in the
2The Pot'ma forced labor complex, comprised of 16 camps, is
located 225 miles southeast of Moscow. Nearly all foreign prisoners
and most of the political prisoners are held here.
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following account by a religious dissident imprisoned
in the Ukraine who reported that prisoners were served
"16 ounces of black bread and 21 to 24 ounces of
water-soup-the next day a bit of tasteless, cold food
with no oil. The ration for 5 days is less than one day's
food ration for a normal prisoner." Recently, a group
of Soviet "political" prisoners, which included Simas
Kudirkas (the Lithuanian seaman serving a 10-year
sentence for trying to defect to the United States),
appealed to the International Red Cross to improve
living conditions in their Pot'ma camp. The appeal
stated that "the entire system of camp detention is
designed to transform human beings gradually into
unthinking, frightened, and obedient animals,
agreeable to do everything and anything." They
added that "prisoners are for many years kept in a
semi-hungry state under the threat of outright
starvation." Thus, the camp administration wields a
powerful means of exerting physical pressure,
especially on political prisoners-a system of hunger
escalation. Anatoly Marchenko, author of My
Testimony, an expose on Soviet penal institutions,
asserts that the "application of this system results in
emaciation and avitaminosis." As a result of
inadequate diets many prisoners suffer from a variety
of illnesses, age rapidly, and often loose their hair and
teeth. Scurvy, for example, is widespread throughout
the camps and prisons.
44. Prisoners who are permitted to receive
supplemental food packages from relatives, or are able
to purchase limited quantities of foods at the camp
commissary, are fortunate indeed. The use of camp
and prison commissaries is closely regulated. Soviet
statutes have placed restrictions upon prisoners' usage
of these facilities according to the severity of the
regime. Other regulations permit prisoners to receive
and send correspondence and to have general and
private meetings with relatives. These privileges are,
however, rigidly controlled by camp and prison
authorities (see Appendix D).
housing
45. Housing conditions in the camps and prisons,
while varying widely, are generally crowded and
unsanitary. A forced labor camp may consist of as
many as 12 barracks or even more. Typical one-story
barracks house between 75 and 150 prisoners. The
camp compound generally includes a number of
ancillary and support facilities such as a messhall,
mailroom, and storerooms, and sometimes an outdoor
theater. The standard barracks are usually crude, old,
one-story wooden structures lacking both central
heating and plumbing systems. Cots are generally
constructed of iron with wooden slats, and mattresses
are of sawdust or straw. Double bunking is
commonplace, and bunks are frequently jammed
together into groups of four.
46. The 1961 Corrective Labor Statute guarantees
only 19 square feet of living space per prisoner; the
average cot is about 18 square feet. The Ukrainian
journalist, Vyacheslav Chornovil, claimed that
inmates in his Pot'ma barracks were alloted only 14
square feet apiece. Marchenko indicates that his cell
in Vladimir Prison contained 5 men, each of whom
was alloted approximately 27 square feet. Recent
reporting from Moscow's Butyrka prison revealed that
there were 40, and sometimes 60, prisoners per cell.
Krasnaya Presnya prison, also in Moscow, reportedly
was filled to capacity. Overcrowding also occurs in
mental hospitals holding "political" prisoners. A
political prisoner in the Orel Psychiatric Hospital
indicated that the 8 patients in his cell had about 22
square feet each.
Administrators
47. Inmates suffer not only from the physical
burdens of camp and prison life but also from the
inhumane treatment imposed by corrections
personnel, some of whom are holdovers from the Stalin
era. Rank and file staff members have been bitterly
denounced by many former prisoners for their cruel
treatment of inmates. Camp administrators have an
economic plan to fulfill, and as a result, prisoners are
frequently overworked. Inmates who do not fulfill
their norms may he subjected to even greater
workloads or punishment. Guards employ stringent
security measures, particularly when handling
prisoners at the camps or at the work sites, since the
escape of a prisoner could bring severe administrative
reprisals. The concept of productive labor as a socially
rehabilitative or educational force tends to get lost
amidst these harsh realities of the prisoner's life.
8
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Chronology of Key Penal and Legal Reforms
During the Brezhnev-Kosygin Era
1966 USSR Resolution on Measures for Intensifying the Fight Against Crime
(Anti-hooligan and Anti-parasite Laws).
1967 RSFSR decree on the Compulsory Treatment and Corrective Labor Training
of Chronic Drunkards.
1968 USSR Statute on Labor Colonies for Minors.
Ministry for the Protection of Public Order (MOOP) renamed the Min-
istry of Internal Affairs.
1969 Principles of Corrective Labor Legislation of the USSR and Union Re-
publics.
1970 Restoration of the USSR Ministry of Justice.
Revised RSFSR Laws on Vagrancy, Begging, and Parasitism.
USSR Law Prohibiting the Purchase, Sale, and Exchange of Currency or
Securities as well as Purchasing Objects from Foreigners.
USSR Decree on Arbitrary Conviction and Deprivation of Liberty with
Obligatory Assignment of the Convicted to Labor.
1971 Promulgation of the RSFSR Corrective Labor Code.
1972 RSFSR Law for the Compulsory Treatment of Drug Addicts.
RSFSR Statute to Combat Drunkenness.
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SECRET
Forced Labor Camp Regimes
Category of Prisoner Work Assignments
GENERAL
Those with light sentences Light work such as sewing, carpentry,
etc.
]'hose convicted for the first time of a More difficult manual labor such as
serious crime ditch digging, cement works or land
clearing
Those convicted of serious state crimes, Heavy manual labor such as heavy
recidivists, and" politicals" construction or work in plants where
there are health hazards
Those considered to he "especially dan- The heaviest manual labor such as stone
gcrous recidivists," those whose death quarrying, lumbering, loading and
sentences have been commuted and unloading timber, earth removal, etc.
"politicals" Production norms that are assigned
are almost impossible to meet
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APPENDIX C
Daily Nutritional Norms for Prisoners
Prisoners in Forced Labor Camps Calories
I working prisoners in general 2413
2 working prisoners in ore-mining and timber 2828
3 working prisoners in camp punishment cells 2090
4 prisoners in camp punishment cells that "maliciously refuse" to 1324
work or fail to fulfill work norms
Prison Inmates
1 those under arrest, under investigation, having sentences reviewed, 2143
and those in transit
2 convicts in general regime prisons (for those, who work, an extra L937
31/2 ounces of bread each 24 hours)
3 convicts in strict regime prisons (with a reduction in the norm by 1937
31/2 ounces of bread each 24 hours)
4 prisoners placed in punishment cells for disciplinary reasons 1324
Source: Statute on Corrective Labor Colonies and Prisons of the 1ZSFSR, Ministry) of Internal
Affairs, 1961.
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Forced Labor Camps
Prisons
General
Intensified
Strict
Special
General
Strict
PRIVILEGE
Regime
Regime
Regime
Regime
Regime
Regime
Amount of money prisoner can
Not more
Not more
Not more
Not more
Not more
Not more
spend in camp store each month
than 10
than 7
than 5
than 3
than 2
than 2
from personal earnings
rubles
rubles
rubles
rubles
rubles
rubles
General meetings with relatives
1 every 2
1 every 3
1 every 4
1 every 6
1 every 6
None
months
months
months
months
months
Private meetings with relatives
1 every 3
1 every 6
1 per year
None
None
None
months
months
Correspondence with relatives
Unlimited
Unlimited
Maximum 2
Maximum 1
Maximum 1
Maximum 1
letters
letter
letter
letter every
monthly
monthly
monthly
2 months
Packages from relatives
1 every 2
1 every 3
None
None
1 every 6
None
months; 1l lbs
months; 11 lbs
months; 11 lbs
maximum
maximum
maximum
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APPENDIX E
Map 1. European USSR-Psychiatric Facilities Associated with Political
Prisoners, 500947 (page 4)
Map 2. USSR-Forced Labor Camps, 501394
Map 3. USSR-Large Urban Prisons, 501393
Map 4. USSR-Forced Laborers and Urban Prison Inmates, 501396
Map 5. USSR-Number of Forced Laborers and their Economic Utiliza-
tion, 501397
Map 6. USSR-Forced Labor Camps Constructed or Abandoned since 1965,
501395
SECRET 17
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 bhh
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Q ~ o
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Secret
No Foreign Dissem
Secret
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 Approved For Release 2000/04/18 : CIA-RDP84-00825R000300020001-8
Misc.
Dissem List for GR 73-1
25X1A
1 copy -- NPIC/IEG/WGD/CURB via the NPIC Library,
-- 11 Apr 75
25X1A
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 A roved For Release 2000/04/18 : CIA-RDP84-00825R000300020001-8
UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
Memorandum
SUBJECT:
25X1A
DATE: 3 January 1973
has 42 copies of GR 73-1 and is making a supplementary
issemina on. He will maintain a running list.
Record Center has an additional 49 copies.
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 Approved For Release 2000/04/18 : CIA-RDP84-00825R000300020001-8
27 December 1972
25X1A
25X1A
25X1 C stud .
claimed that the problem
25X1C
dissemination simultaneously had
of having
25X1A
25X1A
25X1A
MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD
SUBJECT: Request for Special Handling of Forced
a or Camps and Prisons in the USSR
1. phone 7897, called me
on 18 December 1972 to request that we withhold dissemination
of above-cited study until at least mid-March 1973. =does
not want our report to appear at
the same time (mid-January) that will be giving ex ensive
media exposure to a report, or series of reports, they have
prepared based on the earlier, top secret version of our
IIIIIIIII
been discussed some time ago with 0/DDI.
25X1A
25X1 C
25X1A
25X1A
25X1A
2. All above reported to D/BGI. Mr. King, after
25X1A
consultation with Paul Walsh, Acting DDI, instructed me
that we would be willing to put a
f
i
orm
n
to
25X1A
"N f rn" contro nn the study. I so informed
00
and he on 20 December -- after clearing the decision with
-- agreed that use of "Noforn"
was a "good compromise so ution to the problem.
25X1A
also asked that be sent a copy
3.
of our study and hoped that their text and ours were not
identical. I told him that we had made major changes in
25X1A
re-casting the top secret version -- which he used as a
base for his material.
Distribution:
1 - OBGI/GD/S
2 - OCh/GD/OBGI
[1 - Chrono]
[1 - Project Folder CIA/BGI GR 73-1] E (3) IMPDET CL BY 019641
Approved For Release 2000/04/18 ,[P84-00825R0a0300020001-8