A corrective colony (russian: исправительная колония, ispravitelnaya koloniya, ИК/IK) is the most common type of prison in Russia and some other

post-Soviet states The post-Soviet states, also known as the former Soviet Union (FSU), the former Soviet Republics and in Russia as the near abroad (russian: links=no, ближнее зарубежье, blizhneye zarubezhye), are the 15 sovereign states that wer ...

. Such colonies combine penal detention with compulsory work.''Encyclopedia of Soviet Law'' (1985) , section "Penitentiary Institutions" ''

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article "Corrective labor colony"
The system of labor colonies originated in 1929 11 июля 1929 г.: постановление Совета народных комиссаров СССР «Об использовании труда уголовно-заключенных» ct of the Soviet of Peoples' Commissars of the USSR "Concerning the use of the labor of criminal prisoners", 11 July 1929/ref> alongside the

Gulag The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= was the government agency in ...

labor camp A labor camp (or labour camp, see spelling differences) or work camp is a detention facility where inmates are forced to engage in penal labor as a form of punishment. Labor camps have many common aspects with slavery and with prisons (especi ...

s, and after 1953 the corrective penal colonies in the Soviet Union developed as a post-

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replacement of the Gulag labor-camp system.

Soviet Union

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 A regimen is a plan, or course of action such as a diet, exercise or medical treatment. A low-salt diet is a regimen. A course of penicillin is a regimen, and there are many chemotherapy regimens in the treatment of cancer. History The work, ...

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 Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...

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.''

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article "Colony-settlement"

Russia

Of the four types of facilities of

prisons in Russia Prisons in Russia consist of four types of facilities: pre-trial institutions; educative or juvenile colonies; corrective colonies; and prisons. The corrective colony is the most common, with 705 institutions (excluding 7 corrective colonies for ...

, the corrective colony ( or ''IK'') is the most common, with 760 institutions in 2004 across the many

administrative divisions of Russia Russia is divided into several types and levels of subdivisions. Federal subjects Since 30 September 2022, the Russian Federation has consisted of eighty-nine federal subjects that are constituent members of the Federation.Constitution, Art ...

. 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.Olga Kapustina
Everyday life in a Russian penal colony

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(October 2, 2013). Corrective colony regimes are categorized as very strict/special, strict, general, and open. The detachment ( or ') is the basic unit of the prison. 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 pageant A beauty pageant is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants. Pageants have now evolved to include inner beauty, with criteria covering judging of personality, intelligence, ...

s (called by such names as "Miss Colony" and "Miss Personality"). The conditions of prisons have been criticized by former prisoners and human rights activists.

Soviet Union

Russia

References

Further reading