One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich/Setting


 * Crapsack World: The work camp is considered one as a whole. The living quarters are spartan and often freezing cold, the food rations hover at starvation level even at the best of times, the guards and even most of the prisoners are self serving sociopaths who would throw anyone else to the metaphorical wolves for their own gain, and even trying to escape has a good chance of getting you killed by the weather even if the guards don't get you first.
 * Penal Colony: It's actually a giant work camp, with barbed wire fences, though the inmates are allowed outside to work on other projects outside the prison camp, albeit under watch until they are made to return back to the camp.
 * Wretched Hive: The main part of the work camp is described as a huge collection of Corrupt Bureaucrats looking for any excuse to screw people over, and it's so corrupt that every social service provided requires you present a bribe to someone to get anything resembling decent service.