Vyatsheslav I. Seliverstov

In the penitentiary systems of states, scientific information about the personality of convicts is important. International standards specifically emphasize the need to obtain reliable data on the trends and characteristics of the prison population. Conducted in December 2022, the Ninth Special Census aims to replenish the available statistical data on the identity of convicts serving sentences of imprisonment and forced labor, as well as persons detained in pre-trial detention centers in Russia. The need to conduct a special census was based not only on the modern needs of improving penal policy, but also on the basis of respect for historical traditions. The practice of conducting special censuses was typical for the period of the existence of the USSR, and it continued in modern Russia. 

The article examines the genesis, development and current state of the practice of conducting special censuses of convicts, and reveals the historical, organizational and methodological features of their conduct. Emphasis is placed on the personality of scientists who made a significant contribution to the origin and development of this method of studying the personality of the offender. The general features and features of the Ninth Special Census of convicts and persons in custody are analyzed, and their theoretical justification is given. The parameters of the census and the forms of its implementation are also disclosed.

The article, taking into account the scientific views of scientists from Lomonosov Moscow State University, substantiates the importance of combating recidivism and provides detailed socio-demographic characteristics of convicts (based on the materials of the special census of convicts and persons in custody, December 2022) who committed crimes with particularly dangerous recidivism and are held in correctional colonies special treatment. Some features of the execution of imprisonment in these correctional institutions are shown. The following characteristics of convicts held in special-regime penal colonies are analyzed: citizenship, age, education, marital status, occupation at the time of arrest or conviction, ability to work and health status, attitude to religion. The socio-demographic characteristics of convicts serving sentences in special-regime penal colonies are characterized by the following: an older age compared to other categories of convicts; a high level of education; a low intensity of maintaining social ties with their families; a high proportion of individuals with no specific occupation before their conviction; a high degree of employability, with a low level of involvement in productive labor; an increased proportion of retired convicts; and an indifferent attitude towards adhering to the religious norms of the religious denominations to which they (the convicts) belong. The socio-demographic characteristics of convicts in dynamics are characterized by: a significant "aging of convicts" in special regime penal colonies; an increase in their educational level; a decrease in the degree of their ability to work, while a significant decrease in the level of their involvement in productive labor; an increase in the proportion of pensioner convicts; and a decrease in the proportion of atheist convicts.