Institutional and functional discretion when implementing the legal requirements of the penitentiary system employees

The article considers the issues of institutional and functional discretion in the implementation by employees of the penitentiary system of official duties for the execution of criminal punishments and other measures of a criminal law nature. Problematic aspects of legal regulation of the legal requirements that affect the public and private interests of convicts are revealed. In the course of analysis of law enforcement practice on execution of certain punishments it has been revealed that the issues of implementation of liability for non-fulfillment of lawful demands of officials executing the sentence deserve serious attention, as they may contain significant discretionary potential. Taking this into account, the author argues for changes in the Penal Code of the Russian Federation and the Law of the Russian Federation «On Institutions and Bodies of the Penal System of the Russian Federation».