Abstract: Using the example of the Corrective Labor Camp of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR, some economic aspects of the effectiveness of forced labor in the Soviet camp system in the first half of the 50s are considered. The twentieth century particular attention is paid to the issue of expenses and income of the forced labor camp. Based on archival materials from the current archive of the Main Directorate of the Federal Penitentiary Service for the Kemerovo Region, a list of expenses is given, as well as the amount of money spent by the state on the maintenance of the prison population and the forced labor camp as a whole. Data on the costs required to maintain the camp economy are correlated with the amount of money for which the contingent produced marketable products annually. Information is provided on the amount of financial assistance received by the forced labor camp from the state budget and from the departmental unit under the jurisdiction of which it was located. The novelty of the research lies in the appeal to unpublished archival documents of the current archive of the Main Directorate of the Federal Penitentiary Service for the Kemerovo region and in local history topics that have not received widespread scientific coverage. The author comes to the conclusion that the income received from the labor activities of the prison population not only did not compensate for the costs of servicing the activities of the correctional labor camp, but also significantly exceeded them. Analysis of documentary material clearly showed that the use of forced labor was not cheap for the state, much less free. The state spent significant sums to organize camp production and maintain the prison population. The camp existed thanks to annually received government grants and subsidies.