LAW REGULATIONS OF THE PENITENTIARY SYSTEM FUNCTIONING IN THE GULAG CORRECTIONAL LABOR CAMPS

Abstract

The article attempts to analyze the fundamentals of the functioning of the punishment system in the GULAG correctional labor camps in the 1930-50s, considering them as a tool of totalitarian practices in the USSR. The research reveals that in the 1930-50s, the main places of imprisonment in the USSR were correctional labor camps, which were part of a centralized system – the Chief Administration of the Camps (GULAG) government agency.
 This system was not only a powerful tool for the execution of punishment and imprisonment, the main task of which was the use of prisoners’ labor to implement economic projects and plans, but also an important element of the functioning of the Soviet totalitarian state. The activities of the GULAG were regulated primarily by departmental documents. A significant number of them regulated the penitentiary system of the USSR.
 The activities of the GULAG were regulated primarily by departmental documents, including “Regulations on correction and labor camps of the OGPU USSR”, Provisional instructions on the detention of prisoners adopted in 1939 and 1940, Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR “On punishment for Nazi criminals guilty of murder and torture of Soviet civilians and captured Red Army soldiers, for spies and traitors of the Motherland from among Soviet citizens and their accomplices” (1943), “Instruction on the registration and transfer of prisoners sentenced to hard labor” (1943), “Instruction on the regime of detention of prisoners in correction and labor camps and prisons of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs” (1947), Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on amnesty of certain categories of prisoners (1953), Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR “On the procedure for detention of convicted persons in forced labor camps” (1954) and others. Thus, for the operation of the penitentiary system in the USSR, a significant number of normative documents were developed; they regulated the penitentiary system and supported the functioning of the totalitarian state.