Dear colleagues! The new issue of our periodical features works, prepared by authors from four countries. In this issue we published works of penitentiarists from the leading law schools of the CIS countries: Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Belarus (Minsk, Republic of Belarus), Turan University (Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan), Kyrgyz State Law University (Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic), Research center of criminal policy and criminology of the Academy of law enforcement agencies under theProsecutor General’s office of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Akmola region, Tselinograd district, Republic of Kazakhstan). Special attention should be paid to scientific works of practitioners, in which they presented the results of generalization and systematization of best practices in penitentiary activities. These articles were prepared by authors from the Department of punishment execution of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Belarus for the Mogilev region (Mogilev, Republic of Belarus), State Penitentiary Service under the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic (Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic), National Penitentiary Administration of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Moldova (Chisinau, Republic of Moldova).Published research materials analyze the impact of persons’ sentenced to imprisonment classification on the achievement of criminal responsibilitygoals. The issue presents the results of an empirical psychological study of the convict’s personality depending on the number of criminal records. The study of the legal regulation of the institution for changing detention conditions of persons deprived of liberty at the international level deserves special attention. On the pages of the journal were identified the problems of criminal liability and execution of certain types of criminal penalties under the new legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic. The authors substantiate the necessity of transition to a new model of execution of punishment in the Republic of Kazakhstan in modern conditions, as well as the reform of the national penitentiary system. In the new issue of our journal, readers will be able to get acquainted with the new provisions on parole from serving a sentence in the Kyrgyz Republic. Readers will also be able to get up-to-date information on the classification of penitentiary institutions in the Republic of Moldova.As before, the editorial Board of the journal invites all colleagues to publish announcements of scientific events and reports on their conduct. We are convinced that this practice will help to expand the audience of announced events in scientific life and will provide them with appropriate information support. We are also open for cooperation and are ready to publish research papers on all branches of penitentiary activity prepared by authors from different countries of the world.Alexey Vladimirovich RodionovEditor-in-Chief of International penitentiary journal, D.Sc. (Economy), Associate ProfessorScopus ID 57194512706Web of Science Researcher ID E 5744-2016ORCID 0000-0002-9311-4896