Central, more well-developed parts of Russia are not backwards (in fact I really liked the soviet heritage of microdistricts, well-developed public transit, socialized medical care and the remains of the education system); the "provinces" (in which I grew up) absolutely are, compared to the even the worst bumfuck nowhere in Europe.

Russian jails (СИЗО) and low-security prisons (колония общего режима) are OK relatively speaking. However if you are in for a "political" crime you're most likely going to end up in a high-security prison (колония строгого режима or тюрьма) in which conditions are seriously worse, including forced labor, denial of medical care, regular isolation, beatings by prison guards and other inmates.

And then there is the heavily prevalent "prisoner culture" which ensures that people who've been in for more than 3-5 years come out with completely destroyed psyche and lack of any real-world social skills. One of my neighbors who spent 5 years in a low-security prison for drug use in the 2000s came out a broken man and was in and out of the system for as long as I knew him.

I agree that the US prison system absolutely sucks ass and must be abolished entirely. Russian (high-security) prisons are still worse (except maybe for Gitmo and the El Salvador thing, which are a fucking disgrace to humanity).

Gulag is just Russian for prison

No it fucking isn't, how hard is that to check? ГУЛАГ (GULAG) stands for Главное Управление ЛАГерей (Main Administration of [labor] Camps), a controversial system of labor camps in 1930s-50s (colloquially up to the 80s). Back in Russia I've almost never heard anyone use it to refer to the modern prison system. It is sometimes used in a set phrase "Digital Gulag" to refer to the government's attempts to censor the internet, but that's about it. Funnily enough the word is used in the general sense of "brutal prison" in the West only - and that is indeed western propaganda.