Agricultural prisons and colonies in the Russian Empire at the beginning of the twentieth Century: on the question of the expediency of creation and the problems of implementation

In a rapidly changing world order, one of the strategic goals facing Russia at the moment is to ensure food security, which is an integral part of national security. In the Russian Federation, enterprises of various forms of ownership are currently involved in agriculture. Among them, a special place is occupied by specialized agricultural enterprises and subsidiary farms under the jurisdiction of the Federal Penitentiary Service, one of the main tasks of which is to ensure food security of the penal system. Unfortunately, the production capacities of these enterprises and their efficiency are currently insufficient, which is explained by a number of objective reasons. Meanwhile, the possibilities of the penitentiary system in the production of agricultural products, the restoration of agricultural land, the restoration of forests are quite large, which is now being talked about more and more often. The idea of using persons serving a prison sentence in the process of agricultural production is not new. At the turn of the XIX – XX centuries, these ideas were actively discussed both at international prison congresses and among Russian penitentiaries. Taking into account the relevance of the topic, this paper examines the main ideas of domestic penitentiaries on the creation of agricultural colonies and prisons in the Russian Empire, the advantages and disadvantages of correctional institutions of a new type in front of the prevailing imprisonment at that time. The conducted research allowed the authors to conclude that the main ideas developed at the beginning of the twentieth century by domestic lawyers on the creation of agricultural colonies and prisons remain relevant for Russia in the XXI century. The results of studies of the early twentieth century on the topic under consideration, after their thorough refinement, can be taken into account by modern lawyers when adjusting the concept of the development of the domestic penal system.