There is a vast difference between being put into a labour camp for reactionaries and thugs, and it “simply” being illegal with consequences of jail.
Not justifying a grave error like that, just that nuance is important IMO.
(Also I edited my comment before I saw your comment, saying that as not to appear like I’m trying to retroactively change stuff after you replied)
In jail, you were confined. Usually your sentence was stay in jail. Maybe some literal classroom lessons. You’d be able to have your family visit. You were even in the same area you were arrested in the vast majority of the time, unless you were in a really rural location that simply did not have a jail, in which case you’d be transferred to the nearest village or city with a jail.
In gulags your sentence was hard labor, confinement, and total isolation.
It’s the difference between jail and prison in the US, or even most countries these days.
There is a vast difference between being put into a labour camp for reactionaries and thugs, and it “simply” being illegal with consequences of jail.
Not justifying a grave error like that, just that nuance is important IMO.
(Also I edited my comment before I saw your comment, saying that as not to appear like I’m trying to retroactively change stuff after you replied)
How is that a “vast” difference exactly?
In jail, you were confined. Usually your sentence was stay in jail. Maybe some literal classroom lessons. You’d be able to have your family visit. You were even in the same area you were arrested in the vast majority of the time, unless you were in a really rural location that simply did not have a jail, in which case you’d be transferred to the nearest village or city with a jail.
In gulags your sentence was hard labor, confinement, and total isolation.
It’s the difference between jail and prison in the US, or even most countries these days.