Educational, Corrective and Educative Works With Prisoners in the Russian Empire During the Period of the Great Reforms

Abstract

The relevance of the topic is determined by the fact that nowadays in Russia in the context of continuous changes in all spheres of social life, the problems of reforming and modernizing government institutions, including the state penitentiary system, are raised. Studying the history of the prison system formation is of great importance for understanding the regularities of the functioning of the penitentiary system in the present, since, based on the experience of organizing and managing in places of deprivation of liberty of a particular historical period, it is possible to identify its role and influence on the penitentiary system of Russia as a whole. The interdisciplinary approach to the problem, based on the methods used in the historical, political, social, and economic studies, is of particular importance for scientific novelty. In this regard, the interdisciplinary character brings novelty to historical study. For the first time, previously unpublished sources and data are introduced into scientific circulation. The set problems are also particularly relevant in terms of educational and correctional work with prisoners. When applying the world-system analysis and civilizational approach, the subject of the work is presented as the evolution of the totality of all spheres of social development. In our understanding, the historicity of human nature separated from politics, economics, psychology, education, culture of society is impossible. This correlates with the developments of Fernand Braudel and the legacy of the School of the Annals. The civilizational approach made it possible to see the social and non-social components that influence the type of spiritual values and the historical stages of cultural-historical types related to the theory of N. Y. Danilevsky, O. Spengler, A. Toynbee. When analyzing the legal framework and historiographical review, methods such as the method of chronological sequence, historical-systematic, and descriptive were used. This article analyzes the formation and development of the penitentiary system during the postreform period of Russian history from the second half of the XIX century to the beginning of the XX century. Special attention is paid to the study of educational and correctional work with prisoners in places of deprivation of liberty. At the end of the research, important conclusions are drawn. First, the research is extremely relevant and needs further deepening and study of unpublished sources with their introduction into scientific circulation. Secondly, the government of the Russian Empire pursued a systematic policy of developing and strengthening the legal framework to prevent antisocial behavior among prisoners. Thirdly, the legislative base of the Russian Empire was not only declarative towards imprisonment, but also took into account prisoners’ rights to spiritual and moral correction. The government introduced a system of guardianship over prisoners, special prison guardianship, which is so necessary in our time.