Custody monitoring during the first years of the Soviet Republic

Before the Revolution the Prosecutors' Supervision was the main tool which ensured the state policy in the sentencingmonitoring. Thereupon, a prosecutor had broad legal opportunities, including administrative and remedy ones. In addition to this, aprosecutor was to participate in NGOs' activity which concerned custody cases. The sphere of prosecutor's activity included legalevaluation of jail and preliminary imprisonment, sentencing monitoring and sentence execution providing. Realizing these activities aprosecutor was to monitor the disciplinary practice inside prisons, to secure the prisoners' particular rights (such as a right to appeal,right to meeting, etc), to provide the sentencing, and to participate in sentence case trials. The Prosecutor was also empowered by acomplex of latitudes with a comprehensive legal character including consent to disciplinary measures infliction, right to discharge of thejail and preliminary imprisonment, right to prison chief indication and etc. There were many custody monitoring agents at the first stageof the Soviet custody control developing. Almost all of them in addition to control functions executed preliminary investigation, justiceactivity and sentencing. All of them were under supervising of the Soviet organs of different levels. The main focus of their control activitywas fixed on monitoring of the jail and preliminary imprisonment which was imposed with a class approach instead of legalevaluation of case circumstances. Custody monitoring during the first years of the Soviet Republic was characterized by such features aspartial restoration of the formal prerevolutionary trial and social forms of imprisonment control, total lack of legal experience, wideapplication of local rule-making and a consecutive class approach. Particularly, the custody monitoring process in that period was anadditional duty of new revolutionary agents which was given to them by the Soviets organs (Revolutionary Committees) of differentlevels. There was no clear idea about the goals, sphere of activity, forms and the system of agents which could provide imprisonmentmonitoring. It happened due to the difficult situation caused by the Civil War and the Intervention.

Keywords

Authors

References