As horrible as prison is people still get used to it. A few have trouble in when let outside and want to go back.
There is a tendency to think of such people as far outside of the norm, but it's common enough that I think it's just part of the normal human spectrum. For many the USSR was simply how things where, and many who had little power back then still think fondly of that time period. Which really should not be that surprising as for the average person prison would be worse.
That's not to downplay the bad, just notice how people can normalize repeated suffering / be willing to make different trade offs.
There is a tendency to think of such people as far outside of the norm, but it's common enough that I think it's just part of the normal human spectrum. For many the USSR was simply how things where, and many who had little power back then still think fondly of that time period. Which really should not be that surprising as for the average person prison would be worse.
That's not to downplay the bad, just notice how people can normalize repeated suffering / be willing to make different trade offs.