The article considers the issues of use of prison labour in the “Southern Kuzbass Corrective Labor Camp of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs”. The chronological framework of the study is set between 1947 and 1950. The camp was located in the south of the Kemerovo region in the Gornaya Shoria district. The Southern Kuzbass Corrective Labor Camp was established according to the resolution no. 409 of the Council of Ministers from March 1, 1947. The main activity of the camp was logging. However the penal labor was used not only in the logging industry, but also in the timber processing, construction, and agricultural sectors. Based on archival documents, this article shows the features of the organization of labor activity of prisoners, working conditions, methods of stimulation and encouragement. The author explains challenges that were faced in the process of implementation of measures aimed to improve the working and living conditions of prisoners, their general physical condition and their work motivation. Among them there were difficulties in carrying out measures for labor protection, calculation of wages for prisoners, determination of their employment category, use of mechanized equipment in production activities, ensuring satisfactory sanitary and living conditions. Despite this, the analysis of indicators of labor productivity for individual logging phases in the camp demonstrates a positive trend.