Complex sentence: To make escapees easily identifiable, the Chinese have adopted the practice of shaving prisoners' heads, a practice inherited from the Soviet Gulag and/or Tsarist Katorga.
Split into simpler sentences: To make escapees easily identifiable, the Chinese have adopted the practice of shaving prisoners' heads. This practice is not traditionally Chinese; it is inherited from the Soviet Gulag and/or Tsarist Katorga.