Much of the research is devoted to administrative enforcement as one of the leading methods of state management. However the generally accepted version of the classification of administrative enforcement measures has not yet been formed in the theory of administrative law. Moreover unlike the police officers (militia), only a fraction of the work is devoted to the study of the system of administrative enforcement measures used by the Federal Penal Service of Russia in the implementation of jurisdictional powers. In the scientific community there is no unity in the perception of this complex sociolegal phenomenon, which is due to a number of reasons: the diversity of public relations regulated by administrative law arising in the field of public administration; lack of unity in the choice of criteria for classification; the different types of enforcement measures used, etc. The analysis of the main classification models of administrative enforcement measures presented in the scientific environment made it possible to develop an author’s classification that takes into account the characteristic features of social relations taking shape in the functioning of institutions and bodies of the penal system. Depending on the objective purpose the measures of administrative enforcement applied by employees of the Federal Penal Service of Russia are divided into measures of administrative enforcement not related to committing an administrative offense (administrative preventive measures) and measures of administrative enforcement related to committing an administrative offense (administrative suppressive measures, measures of administrative and procedural security, measures of administrative responsibility). The proposed classification allows us to comprehensively analyze the external impact of administrative enforcement measures on public relations in the penal system to understand the purpose of these measures and also to see the final result of their use which contributes to solving many problems of a theoretical and practice-oriented nature.