Living portrait of servitude in "Sakhalin. Hard Labour. Criminals" by V.M. Doroshevich (to writer's 160th anniversary)

In the article addressing the work of the famous Russian journalist and publicist V.M. Doroshevich, based on his book “Sakhalin. Hard Labour. Criminals”, the psychological types of representatives of the criminal world of pre‑revolutionary Russia are examined, the picture of the “Sakhalin hell” is given, which does not even contribute to the re‑education of criminals, but further aggravates the basic qualities of their bad character. The relevance of the study is due to the authors’ appeal to issues of penitentiary law and the “eternal problem” of crime and punishment both in life and in literature. The article also touches upon the questions of criminology, criminal law, victimology and legal psychology. The following methods and techniques in the research process have been applied: analysis and synthesis, cultural, historical commentary. Life provided V.M. Doroshevich with an opportunity of getting information about French hard labour. The writer points out that among the prison authorities and the French hard labourers one can find the same evil‑minded people, incapable of anything, but robbing and torturing prisoners. Having compared two penal servitudes – Russian and French – the author draws conclusions concerning “the complete exclusion of penal servitude from the number of punishments.”