In this article I use the example of the north of Perm' oblast' to show how the past and current experience of the region as a place of penal labour continues to shape its economy, society and the landscape in ways that are not captured in the current narratives of 'downward economic adjustment'. The oblast' occupies fourth place in the Russian Federation for the relative size of its prison population, 1,320 per 100,000 inhabitants, and it is also near the top of the list for the absolute number (38,000-40,000). Today there are three separate prison complexes in the oblast'; the main administration (glavnoe upravlenie) consisting of 25 institutions including four remand prisons, two juvenile colonies and two TB isolation prisons; AM-244 consisting of 17 correctional colonies and Sh-320 consisting of 14. It is the latter two institutions that provide labour for the timber harvest in Cherdynsky and Krasnovishersky districts in the Upper Kama region. AM-244 and Sh-320 currently have approximately 10,000 inmates.

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settlement history slave Russian Federation colonization Forestry