This article is based on the author's 2-month visit to the Soviet Union, which included visits to various corrections programs; meetings with representatives of the Institute of State and Law of the Soviet Academy of Sciences; and an interview with Dr. Aleksandr M. Yakovlev, head of the Department of Theory and Sociology of Criminal Law, Institute of State and Law, USSR Academy of Sciences. In keeping with the Soviet cultural emphasis on the collective rather than the individual, corrections extolls the group rather than the individual. Inmate organizations, called the councils of the collective, are concerned with such matters as labor competition and production, cultural activities, sports, education, training, living conditions, complaints, and internal order. Raising the level of political and moral consciousness is an important thrust of corrections. Recidivism rates, according to Yakovlev, hover around 30 percent. The most important lesson the United States can learn from the Soviet Union is how to resist public pressures for 'get-tough' policies that rely upon the increasing use of imprisonment for longer periods. Soviets continue to reduce the use of imprisonment. 13-item bibliography.