THE ROLE OF THE PEOPLE’S COMMISSARIAT OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS OF UKRAINE IN THE MANAGEMENT OF THE PRISON SYSTEM (1922–1930)

Abstract

The article analyses the role of the NKVD in ensuring the functioning of the prison system in Ukraine. At first, through the mediation of the Main Department of Prisons, and later through the Department of Correctional Labour of the NKVD, the authorities supervised the execution of court sentences, which provided for the imprisonment of the offenders. The state, with the help of the NKVD, tried to engage prisoners in socially useful work by setting up production workshops at institutions of correctional labour and establishing the cultivation of crops. Despite the efforts of the NKVD to establish independent provision of food and basic necessities to persons serving sentences in prisons, prisoners continued to suffer from malnutrition, lack of clothing, and lack of hygiene products. Despite the unsatisfactory material conditions, the NKVD nevertheless made attempts to establish cultural and educational work in institutions of correctional labour and tried to provide sick prisoners with access to medical care. The prisoners and the prison staff alike were living in poverty. Employees of the prison system received a meagre salary and, therefore, could not provide themselves with a decent standard of living. Guards were often random people who, contrary to the official regulations, established relations of a dubious nature with the prisoners. Once the NEP was phased out, the prison system was reformed: some of the prisons were liquidated, as correctional labour camps were established in the remote regions of the USSR.