Gulag and sectoral heads of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs as management structures in the Soviet corrective-labor system of the post-war

The scientific article reveals the legal status and organizational foundations of the Gulag and other main departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR (by industry), which implemented the penitentiary policy of the Soviet state after the end of World War II. It is noted that the GULAG, as a unit of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, was in fact a separate agency in managing the system of places of deprivation of liberty of the USSR. This situation was due, first of all, to the enormous economic benefits of the labor exploitation of prisoners held in labor camps, and in this sense, the GULAG was a highly effective management mechanism that corresponded to the tough administrative-command system that was in place at that time by the state. After the death of Stalin and the beginning of the “thaw,” this mechanism no longer met the needs of society and was reorganized.