Case in the Soviet Union

Crimes: Breaking and Entering in a grocery store, theft.

Case Description: A Report of a Police officer.

On the night of December 22, 1960, at 2 A.M., I arrived at the grocery on Lenin Street 37, in response to the security alarm. The window was broken. Inside the store I saw some one sleeping on the floor. Near him there was a bag filled with 12 bottles of vodka which he stole from the grocery. Near him there was one open bottle with same vodka left. The person was blind and drunk. He had documents identifying him as Smirnov, Ivan Ivanlvich, 35 years of age, and single. He had been released from prison on December 10, 1960. He was homeless and unemployed.

Sentence of the court: 5 years in prison attached to a work detail which was building a chemical plant*.

Comment: People who were released from prison didn't have permission to live in the cities. They could live only 101 kilometers or more from the cities. The Police directed them to some hard and dirty jobs. Nobody would hire them for other jobs.
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*Those were special settlements where people lived in barracks and they were controlled by the police. They were forced to work on the construction of plants.
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