ALEXANDER’S PRISON CASTLE: FOUNDATION DATE

Abstract

In the article on the basis of modern and pre-revolutionary literature, archival sources, the history of the construction of Alexander’s prison castle is reconstructed (was on the territory of the county city of Alexandrovsk of the Katerinoslav province, now the city of Zaporozhzhya).

It was find out the construction of the Dnipro defense line is connected with the establishment and development of a prison system in Zaporozhzhya. This process lasted from 1775 to 1825, before the Alexander's prison castle put in operation.

At the end of the eighteenth century Alexander’s fortress began to serve as a place of exile of "convict in the stocks" (a prisoner, a prisoner in the shackles or other shackles) for urgent hard labor and their permanent settlement. The formation of the prison took place in several stages: the first - since the early 70’s XVIII century until 1803 was characterized  by the active use of exiles from the central regions of the Russian Empire at the construction of the Alexander’s fortress and the lack of a prison building as such; the second one: 1803–1806 years – the arrangement of a special room to keep the prisoners in the «police halls»; the third – 1806–1825 years – increase of all the prisoners, keeping them in a wooden prison before the entry into action of the prison castle.

It is emphasized that the penitentiary policy significantly influenced the further socio-economic development of the Southern Ukraine; it became a part of the great expansion of the Russian Empire of the Zaporozhian Cossacks.