Disciplinary Liability of Persons Sentenced to Imprisonment

The aim of this study is to identify problems in the application of disciplinary measures to persons who violate the detention regime in correctional institutions. The legal basis for the disciplinary liability of convicted persons is the need to ensure the established procedure for serving a sentence of imprisonment through lawful methods of influence on offenders. The effectiveness of sanctions imposed on convicted persons should be understood as an adequate form of influence on the offender, capable of deterring him or her from further violations of the procedure and conditions for serving a sentence and of affecting the process of correction, which is the principal purpose of the execution of criminal punishment. The study establishes that disciplinary sanctions impose certain legal restrictions which, however, are not intended to cause physical suffering to the convicted person or to humiliate his or her human dignity, but serve solely as a deterrent preventing violations of the detention regime. The article emphasizes the need to adopt decisive measures, including legal regulation of the application of sanctions, in order to achieve an effective corrective impact on convicted offenders. The importance of the system of sanctions applied to persons sentenced to imprisonment is noted, since it serves as one of the means of encouraging law-abiding conduct among convicted persons, exerting corrective influence on persons sentenced to imprisonment, and preventing offences in places of deprivation of liberty. In the Author’s view, the current system of sanctions does not fully deter convicted persons from violating the procedure for serving a sentence of imprisonment. The article examines various views of scholars and practitioners expressed in legal literature on the issue under study and analyzes the penal-enforcement legislation of Russia and foreign states. On the basis of an analysis of specialized literature and normative legal acts, the Author proposes legislative innovations that would help optimize the procedure for applying sanctions to persons who have violated the requirements of the sentence being served. The study employs general scientific methods for the cognition of socio-legal phenomena, including analysis, generalization, and the systemic approach. Content analysis of scholarly publications and Internet resources devoted to the practice of applying sanctions to persons deprived of liberty is used as a special research method. The scholarly significance of the study is determined by the need to include additional types of sanctions in the statutory system of disciplinary measures. Its practical significance lies in the fact that the proposed amendments to penal-enforcement legislation would contribute to the effective application of disciplinary liability with a view to strengthening the preventive and corrective impact on offenders.

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