Конвойная служба в истории пенитенциарной системы Югорского Севера в конце XVI – начале ХХ в.

Abstract

The aim of the study is to characterise the process and features of formation of the convoy penitentiary guard on the territory of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area – Yugra (in the late XVI – early XX century) from the historical perspective. The paper analyses the historical stages in the evolution of the convoy guard in accordance with different political regimes in Russia, the development of the institution of Siberian exile and the peculiarities of the region. The study is novel in that it is the first to identify the peculiarities of functioning of the Yugra convoy guard as an integral part of the penitentiary system based on historical sources, including archival materials. As a result of the study, it has been found that the reform of the institution of the convoy guard and its functioning in Yugra corresponded to the tasks facing the state. Up to the early XIX century, the North was considered primarily as a place of exile and imprisonment of state criminals dangerous to the supreme power, thus, the organisation of the convoy to the region proceeded from the personal orders of the Tsar and the Tobolsk governor. The 1811 reform, which had officially created the convoy guard, provided other tasks: the state was preparing for an increase in crime in the face of growing social contradictions in Russia, the expansion of the territory of the Russian Empire and other factors. The same trend was observed under the Soviet authorities, when the stages of reformation of the convoy guard preceded the repressions and the creation of the GULAG.