Exploitation of cheap labor by the state convicted in the 18th century

In the Russian state, over a long historical period, state authorities used convicted criminals as cheap labor. The article examines the organizational and legal features of this direction of penitentiary state policy in relation to the 18th century, while we are talking about convicted criminals sentenced to punishments associated with imprisonment, that is, held in prisons, hard labor, workhouses, etc. The authorities most actively exploited the cheap labor of criminals during the reign of Peter I, which was largely determined by the grandiose plans of this reformer emperor, which required the construction of many different objects, and primarily of a military and industrial nature, and the creation of conditions for their exploitation. Accordingly, the article focuses on the first quarter of the 18th century. After Peter I, his successors (successors) reduced their activity in this area of state-economic relations, and after the October Revolution of 1917, a similar policy was carried out by the Soviet government within the framework of the notorious Gulag.