In 1946, the correctional facility was relocated near Kuchino. 4 250-man huts were erected by the prisoners at the new site. The huts were built of raw, as-felled wood, and began rotting quickly. As early as in 1949 the camp authorities reported these to be worn by more than 40%.
In 1948, a political department board of Molotov Administration of Correctional Camps and Facilities reported after examining the camp: ‘… the prisoners are found in mattresses and blankets by 30%, bedclothes and pillows totally unavailable… All windows require glazing but glass is unavailable’. In 1948, only about 1.5% of the prisoners were ‘completely able-bodied’, 48% ‘partially able-bodied’, the rest ‘mostly incapacitated’, that is to say, they were either disabled or ‘wasted’: emaciated by starvation, backbreaking work, and diseases.
As early as by 1948, the near-camp forest was completely devastated, it took more than two hours to convoy the prisoners to the allotments one way. Such camp sites were generally abandoned and new one erected deeper in the forest but this one had to be left in place because there was no other convenient nearby site to store logs which were harvested over year. The rotting huts were therefore repaired, trucks and tractors provided to transport prisoners and haul logs. Workshops were built around the camp. In 1952, the penitentiary was reclassified from a correctional facility to a camp division.