The publication is devoted to the reconstruction of the political ideas of the founder of the Siberian regionalism (regionalism) in the field of prison science. As a goal, the author sees an attempt at a historical and political analysis of the views of N. M. Yadrintsev on state programs for prison reforms in the Russian Empire. The study is based on published and archival sources. First of all, the source base includes materials of personal origin - letters and memoirs, as well as publications in pre-revolutionary publications. The study was mainly based on the tools of hermeneutic methodology. To implement the research ideas, the methods of political and textual analysis and the historical and biographical approach were also used. The publication shows the involvement of N. M. Yadrintsev to reform the penitentiary policy of pre-revolutionary Russia in the framework of his active cooperation with the commission on prison reforms of the famous reformist count. It is emphasized that the Siberian regionalist wrote comments on the draft commission of Count V. A. Sollogub, developed a project of trustee and patronage societies, prepared various notes on the system of punishments. The author found that in the political doctrine of N. M. Yadrintsev a certain place is occupied by the problem of punishment. It has been established that the founder of the political ideology of the Siberian regionalism can be considered a prison science in pre-revolutionary Russia.
