From Mario Sousa:

Labour camps in the penal system

Let us start with the question of the nature of the Soviet penal system. After 1930 the Soviet penal system included prisons, labour camps, the labour colonies of the gulag, special open zones and obligation to pay fines. Whoever was remanded into custody was generally sent to a normal prison while investigations took place to establish whether he might be innocent, and could thus be set free, or whether he should go on trial. An accused person on trial could either be found innocent (and set free) or guilty. If found guilty he could be sentenced to pay a fine, to a term of imprisonment or, more unusually, to face execution. A fine could be a given percentage of his wages for a given period of time. Those sentenced to prison terms could be put in different kinds of prison depending on the type of offence involved.

To the gulag labour camps were sent those who had committed serious offences (homicide, robbery, rape, economic crimes, etc.) as well as a large proportion of those convicted of counter-revolutionary activities. Other criminals sentenced to terms longer than 3 years could also be sent to labour camps. After spending some time in a labour camp, a prisoner might be moved to a labour colony or to a special open zone.

The labour camps were very large areas where the prisoners lived and worked under close supervision. For them to work and not to be a burden on society was obviously necessary. No healthy person got by without working. It is possible that these days people may think this was a terrible thing, but this is the way it was. The number of labour camps in existence in 1940 was 53.

There were 425 gulag labour colonies. These were much smaller units than the labour camps, with a freer regime and less supervision. To these were sent prisoners with shorter prison terms – people who had committed less serious criminal or political offences. They worked in freedom in factories or on the land and formed part of civil society. In most cases the whole of the wages he earned from his labour belonged to the prisoner, who in this respect was treated the same as any other worker.

The special open zones were generally agricultural areas for those who had been exiled, such as the kulaks who had been expropriated during collectivisation. Other people found guilty of minor criminal or political offences might also serve their terms in these areas.

454,000 is not 9 million

The second question concerned how many political prisoners there were, and how many common criminals. This question includes those imprisoned in labour camps, gulag colonies and the prisons (though it should be remembered that in the labour colonies there was, in the majority of cases, only partial loss of liberty). The Table below shows the data which appeared in the American Historical Review, data which encompass a period of 20 years beginning in 1934, when the penal system was unified under a central administration, until 1953, the year Stalin died.

Table - The American Historical Review (PDF)

USSR Custodial Population 1934-1953

Custodial Population Jan1	Gulag Working camps	Counterrevolutionaries	Counterrev %	Died	Death %	Freed	Escaped	Gulag Labor Colonies	Prisons	Total
1934	510,307	135,190	26.5	26,295	5.2	147,272	83,490	*	*	510,307
1935	725,438	118,256	16.3	28,328	3.9	211,035	67,493	240,259	*	965,697
1936	839,406	105,849	12.6	20,595	2.5	369,544	58,313	457,088	*	1,296,494
1937	820,881	104,826	12.8	25,376	3.1	364,437	58,264	375,488	*	1,196,369
1938	996,367	185,324	18.6	90,546	9.1	279,966	32,033	885,203	*	1,881,570
1939	1,317,195	454,432	34.5	50,502	3.8	223,622	12,333	355,243	350,538	2,022,976
1940	1,344,408	444,999	33.1	46,665	3.5	316,825	11,813	315,584	190,266	1,850,258
1941	1,500,524	420,293	28.7	100,997	6.7	624,276	10,592	429,205	487,739	2,417,468
1942	1,415,596	407,988	29.6	248,877	18	509,538	11,822	360,447	277,992	2,054,035
1943	983,974	345,397	35.6	166,967	17	336,135	6,242	500,208	235,313	1,719,495
1944	663,594	268,861	40.7	60,948	9.2	152,113	3,586	516,225	115,213	1,335,032
1945	715,506	283,351	41.2	43,848	6.1	336,750	2,196	745,171	279,969	1,740,646
1946	600,897	333,833	59.2	18,154	3	115,700	2,642	956,224	261,500	1,818,621
1947	808,838	427,653	54.3	35,668	4.4	194,886	3,779	912,794	306,163	2,027,796
1948	1,108,057	416,156	38	27,605	2.5	261,148	4,261	1,091,478	275,850	2,475,385
1949	1,216,361	420,696	34.9	15,739	1.3	178,449	2,583	1,140,324	*	2,356,685
1950	1,416,300	578,912	22.7	14,703	1	216,210	2,577	1,145,051	*	2,561,351
1951	1,533,767	475,976	31	15,587	1	254,269	2,318	994,379	*	2,528,146
1952	1,711,202	480,766	28.1	10,604	0.6	329,446	1,253	793,312	*	2,504,514
1953	1,727,970	465,256	26.9	5,825	0.3	937,352	785	740,554	*	2,468,524

From the above Table, there are a series of conclusions which need to be drawn. To start with we can compare its data to those given by Robert Conquest. The latter claims that in 1939 there were 9 million political prisoners in the labour camps and that 3 million others had died in the period 1937-1939. Let the reader not forget that Conquest is here talking only about political prisoners! Apart from these, says Conquest, there were also common criminals who, according to him, were much greater in number than the political prisoners! In 1950 there were, according to Conquest, 12 million political prisoners! Armed with the true facts, we can readily see what a fraudster Conquest really is. Not one of his figures corresponds even remotely to the truth. In 1939 there was a total in all the camps, colonies and prisons of close to 2 million prisoners. Of these 454,000 had committed political crimes, not 9 million as Conquest asserts. Those who died in labour camps between 1937 and 1939 numbered about 160,000, not 3 million as Conquest asserts. In 1950 there were 578,000 political prisoners in labour camps, not 12 million. Let the reader not forget that Robert Conquest to this day remains one of the major sources for right-wing propaganda against communism. Among right-wing pseudo-intellectuals, Robert Conquest is a godlike figure. As for the figures cited by Alexander Solzhenitsyn – 60 million alleged to have died in labour camps – there is no need for comment. The absurdity of such an allegation is manifest. Only a sick mind could promote such delusions.