The problems of modern departmental education associated with the formation of the professional culture of future specialists require the identification and thoughtful study of the underlying contradictions, substantiation of the possibilities for their resolution. The peculiarity of our research is that it was carried out on the basis and in the context of three methodological approaches - culturological, axiological and hermeneutic. The novelty of the research and the results obtained is related to its focus not so much on the formation of personal and professional qualities of cadets, determined by the development of their general culture, but on the formation of qualities that are especially important for the development of the professional culture of future specialists, taking into account the specifics of the upcoming law enforcement activities of graduates of educational institutions of the Federal Penal Service and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. Based on the results of the study as well as their implementation in educational activities, relevant proposals have been formulated that make it possible to direct the formation of the professional culture of future specialists in the direction of their understanding of the humanistic content of the upcoming law enforcement activity, as well as to the development of such personally significant qualities of law enforcement officers that provide them moral stability under the influence of factors that cause professional and moral degradation, among which there may be interaction with carriers of the penitentiary subculture. Professional training of specialists in departmental educational organizations, carried out in accordance with the principle of cultural conformity, will be successful if: pedagogical conditions are created that direct educational activities to achieve understanding by students of the peculiarities of the subculture of individual social groups and their representatives – carriers of the subculture; methodological support of classroom lessons has been created and used, and in the classroom, to achieve a kind of «immersion» of students in a situation of law enforcement, including manifestations of subculture, the advantages of traditional and innovative methods and means of teaching are used; extracurricular educational work includes activities that reflect the peculiarities of the subculture of objects for future law enforcement specialists.