I. V. Stalin: Were you right to present a list of prisoners to be released? They leave their workplace. Could we think of some other way of assessing their work—awards, etc.? We are doing the wrong thing, and we are disrupting the work of the camps. These people, of course, should be released, but from the point of view of the state economy, it is bad.

We should find 10,000 such people, but only 2,000 have been found so far. The best people would leave, and the worst would stay.

Is there a way of doing it differently, so that these people stay at work— by giving awards, maybe orders? Otherwise, we will release them, and they will return home, again fall in with criminals, and follow the beaten path. The camps have a different atmosphere; it is difficult to get spoiled there. I am talking about our decision. If, following this decision, [prisoners] get early release, these people will again follow the beaten path.

What if we put it this way: lift their punishment early in hopes that they stay at the construction site as free workers? But the previous decision is not good for us.

Let's not approve this draft today, but charge the NKVD with thinking of other means to make people stay in place. Perhaps put it this way: a premature annulment of their conviction so as not to impel them to leave. They should be allowed to bring their family, have the regimen changed for them, and maybe even be considered free laborers. As we used to refer to a voluntary-forced [state] loan, here is a voluntary-forced stay.