It was called Unit No. 318 Stalin City. In 1966, the communist regime opened a particular forced labour unit for women for the first time. It was placed in Stalin City (Kuçova today). On 28 January 1966, most of the convicted women (80 women), one commander, six internal guards, and three external guards arrived from Tirana’s Central Craft Workshop. The remaining half came at this unit on 1 October 1966. The camp was intended as a specialized unit for women who would serve their sentences there.
The purpose of the unit was to exploit’s women’s labour in agriculture in an area of 150 hectares, and in the oil industry. Agricultural land located on the outskirts of oil wells could not be used with mechanized tools or oxen. Women convicted of crimes against the state and ordinary crimes served sentences in the unit. The regime could not separate them except for crimes against the (political) state and those for various ordinary acts. The number of women convicted of political crimes through the years was estimated to be 10–20%. In 1969 there were 177 women working, most of whom ordinary.
In 1975 there were 427 women; in 1976, 478 women; in 1977,479 women; in 1978,440 women; and in 1979, 443 women. A characteristic of this time is that the KuçovaPrison had foreign convicted women. In 1975, the unit consisted of 11 officers, of whom only one had higher education. In 1976,437 prisoners, of which only 40 were political convicts, worked in Unit 318 (Stalin City). Prison guard staff consisted of 19 persons. In 1976, when the unit was still in Stalin City, 483 women served sentences.