Social service of the orthodox clergy in prisons of the Russian empire of the 19th century

The subject matter of the article is the experience of charitable social service of the clergy in relation to the imprisoned people in the Russian empire. The conditions in which the imprisoned were serving their sentences, as well as the steps that were taken by the clergy with the aim of moral improvement of this part of the society which has outraged the legal basis of the public and social life are analyzed in the article. The activities of the Societies and Committees which were headed by the clergy and which patronized the prisons are reviewed in the article.