СОВЕТСКАЯ ПОЛИТИЧЕСКАЯ ТЮРЬМА 60–70-Х ГОДОВ XX ВЕКА: КОНЦЕПЦИЯ ВЛАСТИ И ПОВСЕДНЕВНЫЕ РЕАЛИИ
SOVIET POLITICAL PRISON IN THE 1960S − 1970S: AUTHORITY CONCEPTION AND EVERYDAY REALITIES

Summary/Abstract: The paper examines a new penitentiary system conception generated in the USSR after the GULAG liquidation. This system was created as a specific “normalizing” and “therapy” space to not only isolate the society from unlawful and disloyal citizens, but also to “sovetisize” them if possible. Basing on the previously non-used official documents kept in the Russian State Archive of Modern History (RGANI) and law documentation, the specificity of penitentiaries for the convicted of state crimes (“politicheskikh”) and their role in a new Soviet prison model are revealed and analyzed. It is proven that special penitentiary institutions opened in the 1960s – 1970s to isolate beyond re-educational and extremely dangerous state criminals differed greatly from the ordinary penitentiary system institutions, including the problems of the prisoners’ daily life organization and regulation. Contradictions are found between the authority conception and the prison routine realities. It is argued that the penitentiary reform of the 1950s – 1960s in the USSR consists of two periods: the first one (1954–1960) was the period of some liberalization; the second one (since October 1960) was the period of increased penalties for crimes against the state. It becomes obvious when analyzing the situation of political prisoners in the examined period.

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