Specifics of Training Female Prison Staff in the Russian Empire (Historical and Legal Aspect)
Yel’chaninova O.Yu. Specifics of training female prison staff in the Russian Empire (historical and legal aspect). Penitentiary Science, 2025, vol. 19, no. 1 (69), pp. 13–20. doi 10.46741/2686-9764.2025.69.1.002
A retrospective analysis of the processes related to changes in the prison administration in the pre-revolutionary period is of theoretical and practical significance, as it helps extrapolate historical experience into activities of the modern penitentiary system. The study of the stated topic is determined by the need to restore a historically objective picture of activities of the penal system in the XIX – early XX century. The article describes activities of the Russian state to staff the prison department in the given historical period. The choice of topic is also related to the 110th anniversary of the first graduation from the Moscow School of Prison Wardens, which can rightfully be considered the first official educational institution for training female prison staff. Purpose: to study historical experience of training female prison officers using the example of the Moscow School of Prison Wardens. Tasks: to systematize empirical data on the work of the Moscow School of Prison Wardens; to determine the purpose of its opening, sources of funding; to characterize approaches to the selection of candidates for training; to analyze the content of educational programs and teaching methods. Methods: the dialectical method made it possible to trace the dynamics of changes in activities of the Russian state to staff the prison department during the historical period under study. The logical method was used to analyze requirements for the professional competence of prison staff, identify criteria for selecting candidates for admission to wardens’ schools, evaluate educational programs for female prison officers, etc. The formal legal method was applied for the analysis of legislative and other regulatory legal documents on the topic; the logical-semantic method – for the determination of the essence and significance of forms and methods of training female students; the structural method – for the identification of features of training female prison officers. Results: the article devoted to the description of educational traditions of the late XIX – early XX century can be used as a substantial basis for courses in theory and history of personnel training for the penal system, taking into account the genesis of penitentiary education. Conclusion: the foundations for staff training for penitentiary institutions were laid during the period under review. It is shown that the main attention was paid to the formation of professional competence of female prison officers through a combination of theoretical and practical training. Despite the fact that the attempts described in the article to create an effective staff training system failed to fully address the personnel issue in the penitentiary sector, they can rightfully be recognized as a positive experience.
Keywords: Main Prison Department; Moscow School of Prison Wardens; prison staff; penal system; prison studies; law studies; Moscow Women’s Charity and Prison Committee; professional competence
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