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Corrective labor colony#Soviet Union

{{Short description|Type of prison in post-Soviet states}}

{{distinguish|Penal colony}}

{{Requested move notice|1=Corrective colony|2=Talk:Corrective labor colony#Requested move 4 June 2025}}

{{Use American English|date=November 2020}}

File:ИК-5.jpg, Ivanovo Oblast]]

A corrective colony ({{langx|ru|исправительная колония|ispravitelnaya koloniya}}, {{Abbr.}} ИК/IK) is the most common type of prison in Russia and some other post-Soviet states.{{Explain|date=October 2022|reason=What other post-Soviet states.}} Such colonies combine penal detention with compulsory work (penal labor).Encyclopedia of Soviet Law (1985) {{ISBN|90-247-3075-9}}, section "Penitentiary Institutions"{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Great Soviet Encyclopedia |url=http://bse.sci-lib.com/article056807.html |title=Исправительно-трудовая колония article |trans-title=Corrective labor colony |lang=ru |date= |access-date=26 December 2023}} The system of labor colonies and camps originated in 1929,{{cite web |url=http://pmem.ru/5022 |title=Исправительно-трудовая колония (ИТК) |trans-title=Corrective labor colony |website=pmem.ru |date= |access-date=26 December 2023}}{{cite encyclopedia| last= Utechin| first= S. V.| encyclopedia= A Concise Encyclopaedia of Russia| title= Corrective Labour Colonies| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=gBlCAAAAIAAJ| access-date= 2015-07-20| year= 1961| publisher= E.P. Dutton & Company| series = Part 146 of Dutton paperback| pages= 136| quote= Corrective Labour Colonies, one of the main types of detention place since 1929.}}

11 июля 1929 г.: постановление Совета народных комиссаров СССР «Об использовании труда уголовно-заключенных» [Act of the Soviet of Peoples' Commissars of the USSR "Concerning the use of the labor of criminal prisoners", 11 July 1929] ((wikisource)) and after 1953, the corrective penal colonies in the Soviet Union developed as a post-Stalin replacement of the Gulag labor camp system.

Soviet Union

In the Soviet Union, the labor colonies were governed by the Corrective Labor Law (Исправительно-Трудовой Кодекс).

The Corrective labor Law of 1933 defined different types of labor colonies (Фабрично-заводские и сельскохозяйственные исправительно-трудовые колонии, Исправительно-трудовые колонии массовых работ, Штрафные исправительно-трудовые колонии).s:ru:Исправительно-Трудовой Кодекс РСФСР (1933) (tr. "Corrective-Labor Code of the RSFSR (1933)")

In the late Soviet Union, the labor colonies were governed by Article 11 of the Corrective Labor Law and were intended for adult (16 years and over) convicts. The colonies were classified according to the regimen of severity: ordinary, reinforced, strict, and special regimens (колонии общего, усиленного, строгого, особого режимов), as well as the "colony-settlements" (колонии-поселения). Only ordinary and strict regimens (and colony-settlements) were provided for female convicts.

"Colony-settlements" were establishments introduced in 1960s for convicts with good behavior who served at least half of the term for those eligible for parole and who served two thirds of the term and not eligible for parole. The inmates live without guard but under observation and may move relatively freely and have family.{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Great Soviet Encyclopedia |url=http://bse.sci-lib.com/article062963.html |title=Колония-поселение |lang=ru |trans-title=Colony-settlement article |date= |access-date=26 December 2023}}

Russia

File:Зона строгого режима.jpg

{{further|Prisons in Russia}}

Of the four types of facilities of prisons in Russia, the corrective colony ({{Transliteration|ru|ispravitelnie kolonii}} or IK) is the most common, with 760 institutions in 2004 across the many administrative divisions of Russia.{{sfn|Roth|2006|p=231}} In 2012, the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service reported that 585,000 prisoners were serving sentences at penal colonies, more than the 260,000 prisoners held in detention centers.{{cite web |author=Olga Kapustina|url=http://www.dw.com/en/everyday-life-in-a-russian-penal-colony/a-17131773 |title=Stalin's legacy (regarding Everyday life in a Russian penal colony) |work=Deutsche Welle |date=2 October 2013 |access-date=26 December 2023}}

Corrective colony regimes are categorized as very strict/special, strict, general, and open.{{sfn|Roth|2006|p=231}} The detachment ({{lang|ru|отряд}} or {{Transliteration|ru|otryad}}) is the basic unit of the prison.{{cite news |title=How will the Pussy Riot band members fare in Russia's 'harshest prisons'? |first=Judith|last=Pallot|date=23 October 2012 |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/oct/23/pussy-riot-russia-harshest-prisons |access-date=26 December 2023}} When not in the detachment, prisoners are required to participate in penal labor, which is in the form of work brigades in colony production zones where prisoners earn a wage of which most is paid to the colony for their upkeep.

The detachment is largely self-organized, with the prison administration designating the "head monitor" with the job of keeping order and to liaise with the prison administration, and is supported by various prisoners' committees responsible for health and safety, cleanliness, energy saving, and also psychological counselling. Female detachments organize cultural and social activities, including annual beauty pageants (called by such names as "Miss Colony" and "Miss Personality"). Women's colonies are equipped with childcare facilities for the prisoners' children. {{As of|2020|August|1}}, there are 13 such facilities in Russia, caring for of 384 children in total.{{Cite journal |last=Ovchinnikov |first=Sergei |date=2 October 2020 |title=The Penitentiary System of Russia during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Global Challenge and Initial Results |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15564886.2020.1826377 |journal=Victims & Offenders |publisher=Routledge |volume=15 |issue=7-8 |pages=1152 |doi=10.1080/15564886.2020.1826377 |url-access=subscription}}

The conditions of prisons have been criticized by former prisoners and human rights activists.

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References

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  • {{cite book | title= Prisons And Prison Systems: A Global Encyclopedia | first= Mitchel P. | last= Roth | year= 2006 | publisher= Greenwood Publishing Group | isbn= 0-313-32856-0 | pages= 230–232 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=RTH31DgbTzgC&pg=PA232 }}

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Category:Penal labour

Category:Penal system in the Soviet Union

Category:Penal system in Russia

Category:Forced labor in the Soviet Union