Prison and police service of court councillor Alexei Sergeevich Yugurtin: Penza period (1876–1906)

Abstract

Background. The study of Russian police and prison system of the second half of the 19th – the beginning of the 20th centuries implies an appeal to the problem of the "little man". It was the ordinary prison and police officers who determined the trends of the de-velopment of these systems at the local level and formed the image of state power in the eyes of population. This study analyzes the biography of court councillor Alexei Ser-geevich Yugurtin, who served in police and prisons of Penza and Perm provinces for more than 30 years. The purpose of the work is to study A.S. Yugurtin's service in Penza province. Materials and methods. The basis of the source base consists of archival docu-ments extracted from the funds of the State Archives of Penza and Perm regions, the State Archive of the Russian Federation. Reference and statistical publications, materials of legis-lation, memoirs of the contemporaries were used in this study. The methodological base in-cludes historical-anthropological and historical-comparative methods. The first method was used to reconstruct the historical portrait of A.S. Yugurtin with taking into account the features of social environment. The second method was used to analyze and compare the sci-entific potential of sources. Results. The study includes the analysis of all stages of A.S. Yugurtin’s career in Penza province. His specific achievements at each place of service were revealed. The novelty of the research is that the personality of A.S. Yugurtin has not be-come the subject of special study yet. Conclusions. Many characteristic features of ordinary Russian officials were reflected in the biography of A.S. Yugurtin. His personality was characterized by diligence for service, responsibility and devotion to the monarchy.

Keywords

• a.s. yugurtin
• penza province
• prison
• prisoners
• police department
• police officer
• district police officer
• governor