Prison Escapes in Western Siberia (1930–1945)
https://doi.org/10.21603/2078-8975-2020-22-2-362-369
Abstract
The author analyzed the causes and consequences of prison escapes in Western Siberia in 1930–1945, which were a serious problem for the entire Soviet correctional labor system. The reasons behind frequent prison escapes can be summarized as follows: substandard living conditions, a complex production schedule, violent inmates, severe punitive measures for minor crimes, and relatively lenient punishment for escapes. The situation was aggravated by the negligent attitude to the service among wardens, their non-compliance with official discipline and job descriptions, as well as by ineffective use of the agent network. The escapes grew even more frequent in the late 1930s because the number of convicts increased during the Great Terror. The opposite pattern prevailed during World War II due to the general reduction of prison population during the occupation of the European Russia and the fact that some categories of convicts were allowed to enlist in the army. The fugitives posed a real threat to local residents. Once they were free, they committed murders, robberies, and rapes, which significantly worsened the difficult criminal situation in the West Siberian region. The NKVD employees of the Joint State Political Directorate of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR prevented escapes and detained the prisoners. The research objective was to establish the causes, consequences, and various forms of prison escapes in Western Siberia in 1930–1945.
About the Author
E. V. Suverov
Barnaul Law Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Evgeny V. Suverov
Barnaul
References
1. Kuzmin S. I., Zheleznaya Yu. Yu. Organizational-law measures of prevention of escape by prisoners from correctional-labor camps (1929–1956). Istoriia gosudarstva i prava, 2015, (15): 24–28. (In Russ.)
2. Sienkiewicz V. V. The historical aspects of legal measures on prevention of the escapes from jail. Vestnik Akademii prava i upravleniia, 2010, (21): 138–142. (In Russ.)
3. Kuzmin S. I. The prisoners are escaping as a form of protest against punitive policies and conditions in places of detention in 30–50 XX century. Ugolovno-ispolnitelnaia sistema: pravo, ekonomika, upravlenie, 2013, (6): 29–32. (In Russ.)
4. Umnyagin V. V. Escape abroad and life in the foreign land in the Solovki prisoners' memoirs. Jaroslavskij pedagogicheskij vestnik, 2016, (1): 303–307. (In Russ.)
5. Sorokin M. V., Sorokina O. E. The prevention of offences in prisons and remand centers of the people's commissariat of Internal Affairs (PCIA) of USSR in the 40s of the twentieth century. Vestnik Samarskogo iuridicheskogo instituta, 2014, (3): 52–56. (In Russ.)
6. Dashin A. V., Ignatkov A. A. To the question about the mass nepovinoveniya prisoners in correctional labor camps of the USSR (1920–1940). Sovremennoe pravo, 2014, (12-1): 82–87. (In Russ.)
7. Smykalin A. S. Forced labor camps and prisons in Soviet Russia. Moscow: Rusains, 2015, 224. (In Russ.)
8. Smirnov L. B. Evolution and problems of the Russian penitentiary system in the context of civilization development. III International penitentiary forum "Crime, punishment, correction": Proc. of participants, Ryazan, November 21–23, 2017. Ryazan, 2017, vol. 3, 74–82. (In Russ.)
9. Smirnov L. B., Ocheredko V. P. The penitentiary system of the Soviet state in the pre-war and war years (1930–1945) and its role in achieving Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945. Bulletin of St. Petersburg University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, 2005, (2): 61–66. (In Russ.)
10. Reent Yu. A., Zhigalev A. V. The correctional labor system of Soviet Russia in the pre-war period (1921–1940). Moscow: RG-Press; Prospekt, 2018, 190. (In Russ.)
11. Uporov I. V. Prison policy of Russia in the XVIII–XX centuries. Moscow: Iurid. tsentr Press, 2004, 608. (In Russ.)
12. Khatanzeiskaya E. V. Arkhangelsk in the system of special colonization of Northern region in 1929–1936. Noveishaia istoria Rossii, 2016, (3): 93–104. (In Russ.) DOI: 10.21638/11701/spbu24.2016.306
13. Mamenkova E. S. Krasnoyarsk Forced Labour Camp of the USSR National Commissariat of Military Affairs during the Great Patriotic War (1941–1945). Vestnik Kemerovskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, 2016, (1): 19–23. (In Russ.)
14. Gvozdkova L. I. The history of repression and the Stalin's camps in Kuzbass. Kemerovo: Kuzbassvuzizdat, 1997, 516. (In Russ.)
15. Mit' A. A. The formation of the camp system in Kuzbass in the 1920s – early 1940s: estimation of the number of prisoners. Actual problems of modern Russian history, ed. Zabolotskaia K. A. Kemerovo: Kuzbassvuzizdat, 2007, 100–113. (In Russ.)
16. Rasskazov L. P., Uporov I. V. Imprisonment in Russia: origins, development, and prospects. Krasnodar: Krasnodarskii iuridicheskii institut MVD Rossii, 1999, 490. (In Russ.)
17. Kovaleva E. A. Organization of the labor use of the special contingent of correctional labor institutions of the South Ural region during the Great Patriotic War. The Great Patriotic War – a heroic and tragic page in the history of the Soviet people: Proc. Intern. Sci.-Prac. Conf., Orenburg, June 14–15, 2016. Orenburg, 2016, 172–176. (In Russ.)
18. Ivanenko A. V., Malkova Y. A. Historical and legal analysis of formation of the soviet penential system (1937–1941). Apemen, 2019, (31): 30–39. (In Russ.)
19. Pertli L. F. Escapes of prisoners in pre-revolutionary Russia. Monitoring pravoprimeneniia, 2014, (4): 43–46. (In Russ.)
20. Uporov I. V., Abazov A. B. Prison policy of the Soviet state in context of functioning of security bodies (1930s). Ekonomika. Pravo. Pechat. Vestnik KSEI, 2019, (4): 42–45. (In Russ.)
21. Suverov E. V. To the question of detention regime of prisoners in imprisonment places in West Siberia during the Great Patriotic War. Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Istoriya, 2015, (1): 29–33. (In Russ.)
22. Detkov M. G., Shamsunov S. Kh., Aleksushin G. V. 130 years of criminal executive system. Moscow: Iurisprudentsiia, 2009, 301. (In Russ.)
23. Kuanysheva V. V. Features of the implementation of the penitentiary policy of the USSR during the period of mass repressions (1936–1941). The penal system at the present stage: the interaction of science and practice: Proc. Intern. Sci.-Prac. Interdepartmental Conf., Samara, June 16–17, 2016. Samara, 2016, 344–347. (In Russ.)
24. Agarkov A. V. Transformation of tasks of operative divisions in the penitentiary system of the USSR in the first half of the twentieth century. Vestnik Vladimirskogo yuridicheskogo instituta, 2010, (2): 141–144. (In Russ.)
25. Suverov E. V. The formation and functioning of the Siberian Forced Labor Camp of the NKVD of the USSR (Siblag) in 1929–1941. Barnaul: BIuI MVD Rossii, 2016, 124. (In Russ.)
26. Voloshin D. V. Training courses of penal staff in the prewar and wartime (1940s). Vestn. in-ta: prestuplenie, nakazanie, ispravlenie, 2014, (1): 75–78. (In Russ.)
Review
For citations:
Suverov E.V. Prison Escapes in Western Siberia (1930–1945). The Bulletin of Kemerovo State University. 2020;22(2):362-369. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.21603/2078-8975-2020-22-2-362-369
Views:
552
Email this article 