Features of penal system reform in Tomsk province in late 19 - early 20 centuries

The challenges the penal system of Russia faces today are similar to the problems of the earlier periods of its history. Therefore, the study of experience of the penitentiary system reform in the country as a whole and its separate regions is significant both for legislation and law enforcement. This study allows us to conclude that the development of the penal system of Tomsk province before the revolution took place in the context of the transformation of the Chief Prison Administration. However, over the long period of the penitentiary system reform the government changed several times . This limited the continuity of policies, and the lack of necessary funds significantly braked the implementation of the programs. It is hardly necessary to agree with the opinion of some researchers estimating the period of 1879-1917 in the reform of the penal system as a failure (I.V. Uporov). At least, it does not apply to the penal system of Tomsk province. First, the establishment on its territory of new penitentiary facilities led to improved conditions for prisoners serving sentences, as well as to less numerous "prison population". Second, changes in types of prisons resulted in the differentiation of the conditions of serving sentences, which was fixed in the main legal acts of the period under consideration. Third, the positive results of the implementation of prison reforms in the province were a gradual change of the prison performing purely punitive functions to having a comprehensive educational and labor influence on the prisoner, combined with religious education and training. Fourth, the establishment of a new type of correctional institutions in Tomsk province - a colony for minors - was the merit of both provicial NGOs and the penitentiary system administration, which gave prerequisites for the spiritual and moral improvement of juvenile prisoners. Finally, public involvement in the work of prisons was in many ways ahead of the processes of humanization of serving sentences in the European part of the country.

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