CODEX: THE KOVENANT IMPERIAL ARMY.

Penal Laborers/Penal Battalions.

Penal Labour is also used within the Kovenant Imperial Army. Particularly as hard labour in building structure, maintaining infrastructure as well as ensuring that there is always a means in which the Combat Pioneers can perform work quicker.

However, it should be noted that Penal Labour is an optional attachment to Kovenant Regiments and only when their Combat Pioneers are stretch thin will a Penal Labour force of varying sizes be shipped out to join them as a somewhat expendable Labour force.

Induction.

Recruitment into a Penal Labour group is often done, unsurprisingly in prison for those who have commited some form of crime, it should be noted that the Kovenant Penal recruitment system considers recruits from mainly those who have commited trully horrific crimes, things such as stealing of fraud are not considered punishable enough for Penal Labour service. Only those who have commited things such as murder, terror attacks, bomb making and other such frowned upon crimes are considered to be punishable enough for Penal Labour service.

Recruitment is entirely none voluntary, the Kovenant Penal recruitment code explicitly states that this is an alternative form of punishment as opposed to life imprisonment and or Capital punishment such as execution by firing squad or hanging.
As such the prisoners who are rounded up to become Penal Laborers often had this as a punishment instead.

Upon which they would be organised into Penal formations consisting entirely of criminals before they are than shipped off to their newly assigned Regiment.

NOTE: Penal Laborers can be used within Penal Colonies as well.

Another thing to Note: If at all possible, the Kovenant Regiments would have been given a civilian labor force instead, primarily made up of workers from the Reich labour service, or better known as the Kovenant Imperial Labour Core (Civilians without a job that were given work as construction workers and such)
As the Kovenant Regiments tend to trust this relatively hard working civilian workers rather than the criminals.

Equipment.

Penal Laborers are expected to provide hard labor and as such they were given only essential building tools.
Things such as jack hammers, sledge hammers, pickaxes, as well as large shovels that they will almost certainly use to perform all their duties in an effecient manner.

For clothing they were given a simple worker's jumpsuit that was loose fitting as well as a field cap, the field cap being a simple version of ones worn by soldiers however marked with Penal Labour symbols such as a simple pickaxe single in a dark background.

Another "Essential" piece of equipment that were given to this criminals was a security measure, that being an exploding coller.
It is impossible to remove without having the keys from their MP guards and the extra Kommissars watching them. The collers themselves contain enough explosive force to be equal to a bundled Grenade and would be set off if they refuse to work or were trying to escape their alloted duty.

In such cases, the MPs and Kommissars can either give chase, or if that is no longer possible than they can simply detonate the coller to terminate the offender instead.

Other such equipment also includes food and water rations that were handed out in 3 meal sets for breakfast, lunch and than dinner, primarily made out of corned beef, bread and some soup that contained all the nutritional value that Penal Laborers required on a day to day basis, especially with their hard labor sentences working for the Kovenant Imperial Army as construction workers.

Kommissars and MPs duties.

Because of the fact that this are Penal labor forces, the Imperial Army would often assign freshly graduated Kommissars and their lower Kommissar Cadets to have a close watch upon them, in this way, the Penal workers will not run away from their charged sentences and from their work as Penal Labour.
As a result of this, Kommissars attached to Penal Labour groups would often be assisted with MPs typically about half a Platoon's size and all riding in BMW R-15 Motorcycles with sidecars and MG6 machine guns attached to them.