The camp was used to segregate those seen as enemies of the state, punish them for political misdemeanors,[1] and put them to hard labour.
People were often imprisoned together with family members and close relatives, including small children and the elderly,[14] based on guilt by association (Sippenhaft).
[16] It was surrounded by a barbed-wire fence 3–4 m (10–13 ft) tall and walls with electric wire and watchtowers at regular intervals.
[17] In a room of around 50 m2 (540 sq ft), 30–40 prisoners slept on a bed made of a wooden board covered with a blanket.
[26] The camp guards made prisoners report on each other and designate specific ones as foremen to control a group.
[27] Labour operations included a gypsum quarry and a gold mine, textile plants, distilleries, a coppersmith workshop,[8] agriculture, and logging.
[29] After dinner, prisoners were required to attend ideological re-education and struggle sessions from 9 to 11 p.m., where inmates who did not meet the targets were severely criticized and beaten.
[30] In the afternoon they carried out hard labour with very high work quotas in terms of amount and intensity.
[32] Other children's work involved collecting 20 kg (44 lb) of plants in the mountains or cultivating 130–200 m2 (1,400–2,200 sq ft) of field.
[38] Prisoners killed and ate whatever wild animals they could catch, including rats, snakes, frogs, salamanders, worms, and insects,[39] though they were severely punished if seen doing so by the guards.
[29] These wild animals were the only source of fat, as the food rations completely lack meat and plant oil.
Some prisoners sneaked into the pigsties and stole pig slops[41] or picked undigested corn kernels out of animal feces in order to survive.
Former prisoners witnessed a man being tied by the neck to a vehicle and dragged for long distances[20] and a primary school child being beaten and kicked hard on his head.
[51] Prisoners who violated camp rules (e.g. steal food or attempt to escape) were usually executed in public (barring those already shot).
[57] Amnesty International summarized the human rights situation in Yodok camp: "Men, women and children in the camp face forced hard labour, inadequate food, beatings, totally inadequate medical care and unhygienic living conditions.