NOVOSIBIRSK, October 21 (RIA Novosti, Maksim Koshmarchuk) - Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former head of embattled oil giant Yukos, may not be assigned to labor in the penal colony where he was recently transferred to serve out his eight-year sentence, a Russian Penitentiary Service official said Friday.

"There are not enough jobs and many convicts remain unemployed," Deputy Head Yury Yakushevsky said.

Yakushevsky said the colony, which provides work in woodworking and sewing, also sends convicts for work at the Priargun uranium ore-mining and processing factory. Convicts are involved there in construction works, production of reinforced-concrete products and mechanical repair works.

He added that the penal colony, which can accommodate 1,498 people, is currently 65% full of its total capacity with 961 convicts serving their sentence

Head of the penal colony Alexander Yestratov said telephone calls from journalists affected the colony's work.

"When I am in the office I barely take my hand off the receiver. So many calls. They simply paralyze the work," he said.

Khodorkovsky's lawyers are scheduled to arrive at the penal colony Monday to discuss issues concerning his supervisory appeal with him. His wife Inna is expected to accompany them.

On Friday, local Khodorkovsky's attorney Natalia Terekhova visited the penal colony and said her client did not complain about his conditions. She also said that the prison conditions comply with the necessary requirements. Convicts live in two-storied barracks, she added.

Khodorkovsky was transferred last Saturday to a standard penitentiary near the Chita region city of Krasnokamensk, not far from the Chinese border. The city of 50,000 is home to one of the world's biggest uranium processing plant, as uranium ore is mined in the vicinity.