The Academy of Law Management of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia

 For  more than 40 years the Academy of the FPS of Russia has been a higher educational institution. Its names and departments were changed repeatedly; the high quality of personnel training was permanent which has always played a special role in protection of our citizens’ interests.

During the years of intense work the Academy of the FPS of Russia has trained more than 20 thousand specialists for the penal system (about 500 of  them were for foreign states), many of them continue to serve as penal officers. Among graduates of the Academy are the heads and the staff of territorial authorities and establishments of the penal system, divisions of law-enforcement bodies, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Investigative committee, Federal security service, other law enforcement bodies of the RF subjects, and also the governmental legislative, executive and judicial authorities, including the ISU (Independent States’ Union) countries.

 Origin

In the 20th years of the last century the problem of internal officers professional training improvement became very urgent. The 1925-year survey showed that only 4,5% of militia-staff graduated from primary schools of command personnel and reserve force, 0,81% graduated from secondary schools of command personnel training. The Ryazan militia authorities tried intensively to organize vocational education of the personnel for a long time. And only in the mid-thirties there appeared a possibility of creation of the school of militia which was the highest at that time. This became a starting point in the history of the higher educational institution.

According to the order of the Administration of People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs of the Moscow region the Ryazan refresher courses for local militia inspectors were established since November 1, 1934. For the first time the plan of creation and functioning of this kind of establishment has been successfully realized. Teachers and administrative and technical workers (31 persons) were supposed to train 150 cadets within 3, 5 months that is 3 graduate courses a year.

On April 15, 1935 the group of Ryazan courses had its first graduation; besides police inspectors other experts began to be trained. After the brief arrangement in autumn, 1936 the Ryazan courses were transformed into the Ryazan school of the military personnel of the RMC (Ryazan Militia Courses), so junior experts training was finished at this stage. The term of training increased to two years. Afterwards the educational institution repeatedly changed its "name" though the training program, the places of experts’ allocation, and the heads of the establishment remained the same.

The archives keep some documents characterizing the special atmosphere and the life of that time, in particular one of the cadet’s graduate certificate of the 1938 affirming his graduation the 18th Ryazan Workers' and Peasants' militia school (the name of the educational institution at that time). That was the first graduation. In this document there were carefully written letters on the self-made form, even the coat of arms of the USSR was drawn by hand. And in the right top corner there is an inscription "Proletarians of all countries, unite!" which is made with shaky handwriting.

Among the first set of cadets the majority were workers. Some people were members of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, the others were members or candidates of the All-Union Communist Party (bolsheviks). An average rate of education was 4 classes. Credentials committee was interested primarily in candidates’ political study in any circles and the corresponding party and political certification.

During the prewar period the social status of cadets changed. The vast majority of them previously served in law-enforcement bodies. The age ranged from 23 up to 30 years. The number of the Communist Party members and of those who were married became less. The level of digestion of the studied materials was rather high. So, among 128 cadets who finished their studies in 1940 were marked with “excellent” – 56,2%,  "good" - 31,8%,  "satisfactory" - 11,3%, "poor" - 0,7%. 127 graduates, who finished their training successfully, were promoted to more answerable places of work.

 Hard times

In the first half of 1941 the next reorganization of educational institution was made. It was entitled as the Ryazan interregional school of militia. The essence of reform is obvious: in connection with improvement of material, educational and methodical base of school it was decided to broaden the region for which the training of specialists was conducted. The personnel of the trained cadets was increased by one and a half, its number exceeded 180 people.

In the morning of June 22, 1941 the established way of life was suddenly changed and divided into two different periods - peace and war. The officers and the cadets of the school were nor drafted into the army. However many officers left to protect the Homeland as volunteers.

At the end of 1941 and 1942 rates of specialists training decreased. The graduation of 1942 made only 63 persons. With the stabilization of front affairs the educational process was restored, the number of trainees raised to 130, and by 1944 it made 184 people. Women officers began to be involved actively for preparation and retraining. Since September, 1943 the school began to be called "convent" for fun as men didn't undergo training. The special office preparing operational personnel for the front was an exception. Such situation remained until the end of 1945 when front soldiers became the main trained contingent.

The war ended, thousands of men who used to war and were unable to live peacefully came back home. Inevitably some of them were to get under the criminal influence, and others aimed to fight against the criminals. The task of school personnel was to provide the latter representatives with necessary knowledge and experience.

In 1947 the interregional school of militia became the Ryazan school for the militia authorities. It is the next step forward as the educational institution came to all-Union level. At new conditions the essence of training of absolutely unprepared recruits was lost. The completing bodies included enough front soldiers and the internal officers who had practical experience of service. Sergeants and junior reserve officers made a basis of the new contingent of cadets.

 Intermediate period

In March, 1953 Stalin died. In the numerous labor colonies of the Soviet Union this news had an effect which, according to N. S. Morozov, one of researchers of the post-Stalin history of the USSR, was possible to compare to an earthquake. Despite the attempts to establish an order in colonies, resistance didn't become less and got new forms: absence from work, hunger strikes, blocking of inhabited barracks, attempts to release of violators whom the administration placed in maximum security barracks. In this regard the measures directed on the improvement of work not only the system of labor and correctional colonies, but also of all law enforcement agencies were taken in the country.

In September, 1954 the Ryazan school of militia of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR was liquidated and on its base the Ryazan school of retraining of the commanding structure of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR was created. From this point and up to now the educational institution which passed a long way of formation and graduated thousands of experts has been one of basic one for personnel training of corrective-labor system.

On retraining of the commanding personnel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR practical workers with 15 and even 20 experience years from labor colonies came in a rank of captains, majors, even colonels, but they completely had no theoretical base. The school of retraining of the authorities was to supply with theoretical knowledge.

Time passed, the school expanded, the correspondence faculty developed where workers of internal affairs and militia were trained. There was a need of expansion of the school educational base. All school personnel took part in the construction of the new building on Mayakovsky St. which was finished in 1967.

In October, 1970 25 Cuban students arrived to school for training that contributes to the high level recognition of teaching structure and to the authority of the school. In November of the same year the group of heads of Personnel Management of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR came to the Ryazan special secondary school for the authorities training of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR for implementation of the Resolution of the government of the USSR "About establishment of the Ryazan higher school of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR". The commission worked 6 days and defined the officers who were subsequently enlisted in states of the RHS of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR.

During the existence of the Ryazan special higher school for preparation of authorities from 1963 to 1971 there were 9 graduations on a full-time department. 99 experts got degrees with honors. Among the correspondent experts who graduated the school 15 people got degrees with honors. In total the Ryazan special high school of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR trained 1763 experts, many of whom serve in bodies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia and in CLI till today.

The school and city champion, A. Nosonov hoists the flag of sports  and athletics meeting of the school		Sports and athletics meeting of the Ryazan higher school of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR, 1973

The New Status

In the summer of 1971 the higher educational institution enlisted the first group of students, and on the first of October a ceremonial opening of the Ryazan higher educational institution of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR took place. The Red Banner presented to the personnel on May 12, 1973 was an important milestone in the history of the educational institution, which proved that it took its rightful place among the top ranked higher educational institutions in the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR.

In 1973 a summer camp of the higher educational institution started to function in Seltsy village of the Rybnovsky district. In the summer of 1973 the second year students of the institution began camping there, and improved their military, physical and special tactics skills. There were traditional summer trainings with cadets of the Ryazan Airborne School.

In January of 1974 the students participated in the first practical training. More than 300 people underwent it in 13 standard corrective labor facilities. The training was not so much speculative as active. The students took part in the events aimed at maintaining security of sentence, delivered lectures, organized political classes for convicts. In these conditions many students got acquainted with their future profession for the first time, a lot of them decided about their specialty – either to be a worker of tactics and security or of education administrative office.

In the second half of the 70s the Ryazan higher educational institution of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR established itself as a large research center of the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR. It became a permanent base for holding important academic conferences. For example, on December 22, 1977 the Ryazan higher educational institution of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR with the USSR Academy of Pedagogical Sciences held an all-Union research and practice conference “Pedagogical Heritage of A.S. Makarenko and the Issues of Convict Education”, on April 19-20, 1978 they held a research conference “New Constitution of the USSR and the Issues of Improving Education in Higher Educational Institutions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR”.

Moreover, the Ryazan higher educational institution of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR proved that its personnel were able to solve not only educational and scientific issues. According to the order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR the personnel of the Ryazan higher educational institution of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR was involved in performing service duties in Moscow during the XXII Olympic Games. Four composite battalions which included the students and teaching personnel of the higher educational institution ensured safety of the competitors and visitors. Afterwards the personnel of the Ryazan higher educational institution of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR performed similar tasks twice. The institution personnel maintained public order and safety in the Moscow metro and at other sites in 1985 during the XII World Youth and Student Festival and in 1986 during the Goodwill Games.

 Endurance Test

Complication of the general situation in the country starting from the mid‑80s negatively affected the institution activities. The fact is that according to the decision of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR the personnel of the Ryazan higher educational institution of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR was involved in maintaining public order in the South Caucasus republics. From July 1988 to June 1989 six battalions with the total number of 1636 people were formed and sent to the places of duty (the cities of Yerevan and Stepanakert). The battalions of the Ryazan higher educational institution of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR were the part of the army task force of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR and were mentioned as the best subunit a number of times.

Since the majority of the students, teaching and supporting personnel were distracted from the process of education, substantial changes to the curriculum had to be introduced, classes had to be reduced and rearranged according to the duty places, and work practice had to be cancelled. The result of such measures was immediate: on the whole the graduates of 1989 showed the worst knowledge level compared to the previous years. The end of course test results were also worse in comparison to the previous academic year.

Difficulties in school composing began, and the plan of a set of correspondence students failed.

More and more they told about crisis of legal education and the general decline of the Ryazan higher educational institution of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR.

In the early nineties the higher educational institution had a new direction. On the basis of the comprehensive program of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR on reorganization of the system of personnel preparation and retraining in May, 1990, it was decided to open the psychological office at the Ryazan higher educational institution of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR. The law department, the economics department of correspondence course, special professional development department already existed in the higher educational institution. Thus the formation of the system of departments was completed.

By 1995 the extended process of reorganization and transformation of the higher educational institution was in general over. Formally it was reflected in the renaming of the Ryazan higher educational institution of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, it began to be officially called as the Ryazan institute of law and economics of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation. On July 1, 1999 the RILE was attached to the central body of penal system, to the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation. The higher educational institution began to be named as the Ryazan Institute of Law and Economics of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation. Tomsk and Kirov branches were also attached to the Institute.

Thus, in 2000 the higher educational institution had quite a difficult structure, considerably different from that those of 1970. Total number of the teaching personnel was 246 people. About 61% of them had academic degrees and ranks. 32 doctors of science and 118 candidates of science worked in the higher educational institution. In total about 4000 people were trained at the departments of the institute (full-time, correspondence and short correspondence forms), on the budgetary and commercial basis.

In 2001 a change of the status of higher educational institution took place again - it was transformed to a specialized academy. On the order of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation the RILE of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation was renamed into the Academy of Law and Management of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation.

Since 2005 the higher educational institution is entitled as the Academy of Law and Management of the Federal Penal Service. So the new milestone in the history of the educational institution has begun.

The order of the Federal Penal Service of April 17, 2012 No. 214 approved the Concept of development of the Academy of the FPS of Russia for 2012-2015. This document defines the strategy of the further development of the higher educational institution. The authorities consider it as the departmental regulatory legal act that gives this document special status.

The academy was included into the list of the best legal higher educational institutions of the country, having passed public accreditation of the Association of lawyers of Russia. The academy became the 22nd among more than one thousand higher educational institutions of Russia preparing legal personnel, and it is the first among higher educational institutions of the FPS of Russia which past the state accreditation that confirmed the established traditions of lawyer training.

In 2013 the organizational structure of the academy underwent essential transformation: in February, 2013 the Kirov branch became an independent Institute of professional development of penal personnel, and in September, 2013 the Pskov legal institute of the FPS of Russia was reorganized into the branch of the academy. According to the order of the Federal Service for Supervision in Education and Science the educational programs of postgraduate professional education for 8 scientific specialties of the graduate military course were accredited.

The increased level of scientific events should be also noted. The most significant of them are: the first international penitentiary forum "Crime, Punishment, Correction", the international scientific and practical conference "Interaction of Russian Orthodox Church with the state penal system: experience, problems, prospects", the Week of creativity of cadets and students of educational institutions of the FPS of Russia "Viva, cadets!".

The academy of the FPS of Russia is one of the main centers of training of athletes in the penal system. The names of the academy personnel are known as winners and prize-winners of the World, Europe, Russia championships, of large international and All-Russian competitions far outside the region and the country in all kinds of sports.

 The academy traditionally acts as the organizer of the annual International tournament named after M.T. Kalashnikov on firing from the machine gun (carbine), the All-Russian firing tournament from pneumatics devoted to N.F. Makarov's memory.

In 2014 the higher educational institution celebrated its 80-year anniversary. In November, 2014 the significant for the educational institution events took place, which took a worthy place in the history of the educational institution.

On November 1, 2014 the Academy of the FPS of Russia was 80 years old from the date of its formation. The events held in the higher educational institution during the whole year were marked by this memorable anniversary.

From October 31 to November 11 a total complex of scientific, creative, sporting events was organized, directed on strengthening the prestige of service in the penal system, its promoting among civil society. Various conferences, discussion tables, Open days, meetings with honorable graduates and veterans of the service, concerts, competitions and exhibitions, sports meets and many other things were organized for the guests and personnel of the academy.