These weren’t Gulags

Katorga camps were established in the 17th century by Tsar Alexis of Russia in newly conquered, underpopulated areas of Siberia and the Russian Far East. These wouldn't earn the moniker "Gulag" until the 1930s, but they occupied the same territory and served the same purpose. Hell, through the October Revolution many even kept the same staff.

Gulags, or working concentration camps, were way more brutal.

"When people starved to death in a fenced off wilderness farmland under the Tsar, they had it too easy!"

Okay, buddy.

even Stalin could’ve had troubles getting into St. Petersburg like he did since every bedbug is counted and has papers

The Soviets never actually solved the problem of political corruption, and that was the main mechanism by which you escaped any of these prisons.

20th century mechanized bureaucracy afforded governments the ability to arrest and imprison at an industrial scale. But people were walking out of heavily fortified prisons straight into the 1990s, thanks to the abysmal economic conditions of staff and prisoners alike.

Forged documents were in abundant supply. And without a central electromic system of record, "having papers" was more a consequence of who you knew than who you actually were.