The paper deals with the problem of organization of working activity of the prisoners in Russian prisons in the first part of the 19th century on the example of the Tomsk province. On the basis of the documentary sources of the Province Prison Care Committee the author deals with the work organization of the prisoners of goals in the Tomsk province, analyzes how it responds to the objects of re-education. The author comes to the conclusion that the problem of the work organization of prisoners in that period in Russian prisons and particularly in the Tomsk province was not solved.