Development of the Penal System in the Russian Empire in the Late 19th – Early 20th Centuries (Case Study of Don Regional Institutions)

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to analyze the functioning of the prison system at the turn of the XIX – XX centuries. The conducted study is of empirical nature, and is based on using formal-legal, historical-legal, system-structural and comparative-legal methodology. The study of scientific literature on the history of development of prison institutions in the territory of the Russian Empire including the Don Cossack Army is supplemented by unpublished sources stored in the funds of the State Archives of the Russian Federation and the State Archives of the Rostov Region. The results of the study made it possible to fill the gaps in historical and legal science associated with the specifics of the execution of punishments in the Don Cossack Army, as well as to systematize organizational forms and legal foundations for the formation of regional prison institutions. The conclusion is drawn about the peculiarity of the development of places of deprivation of liberty before the beginning of 1917, during the active development of revolutionary political movements.