It probably is, unlike nazi death camps, gulag prisoner behave more like city dwellers in the middle of Siberia. There were no fences because of you leave the camp/city there’s almost 0 chance to survive. Condition were brutal during Stalin years, primarily due to lack of food. A number of cities started as gulags/incorporated gulags still exist in Siberia/Arctic.

If you picture a camp with fences and prison guards, yeah that’s wrong.

If you think I’m defending gulags, note that all of what I’ve said are objective and can be factually proven/disproved. If you feel that way, you probably should investigate your own bias (i.e does my feeling preclude me from believing in facts?)