The article analyzes the policies of the Soviet state in respect of criminal elements in the early 1920s for example of the Altai province. In relation to the political ideology the criminals was defined as the class of “socially close”. This determined the formulation of the problem “reeducation” of criminals in jails by the conditions of labor. A study of archival materials corresponding chronological period, the State Archives of the Altai Territory and the State Archive of Novosibirsk Region, the article shows a picture of social reality criminals in prison. The study examined earnings reports, sanitary condition, the number of prisoners, the food supply of provincial houses of detention (in Biisk and Barnaul). On the basis of the information gathered by the author concludes that the complexity of the financial, consumer, human nature led to inefficiencies and limited implementation of the state policy on rehabilitation of criminals in the 1920s. As a result, the vector of social policy in respect of criminals by the end of the 1920s changed towards increased repressive measures and the rejection of the practice of “reeducation” labor.