What is the server's canon about them? did the USCM withdraw from them? and if so, when did it do so? I'm asking because my alt is an escaped convict from one such colony.
Lore wise, we have no bloody idea why the USCM abandoned their penal colonies. On the server, for the United Systems faction, we're not directly affiliated with them.
In my head, the USCM penal colonies you find had a massive organised breakout, killing all the security forces likely due to their distant location from the USCM core planets. The destruction of Earth disrupted the supply lines, starving and desperate, the prisoners held a huge riot. With the prison emptied, the convicts took over, used the colony as a base of operations, and pretty much became bandits, mugging, killing and generally being dickbags to anyone they come across.