Attempts to reform the prison system of the Russian Empire in the XIX century and the reasons for their failure

The prison (penal) system in Russia has been developing contradictorily throughout the country's history, and has repeatedly been subject to reform, usually without achieving the desired results. The article reveals the features of the most large-scale prison reform that took place in the XIX century. The documents showing the actual and extremely unsatisfactory state of places of deprivation of liberty, projects for their improvement, results, as well as scientific works that touch upon this issue are analyzed. It is noted that all attempts to improve the situation in penal institutions did not yield any significant results, and the conditions of serving sentences in prisons, detention centers and other places of deprivation of liberty remained unsatisfactory. Among the main reasons were the neglect of the entire prison economy, insufficient funding, and the lack of properly trained prison officers. On the positive side, one can note the desire of the authorities to transform prisons in accordance with contemporary requirements at that time, and the practical implementation of the new management system in this area, for which purpose the Main Prison Administration was created in 1879. This has improved management in this prison sector, but not the conditions of serving sentences in the prisons themselves.