The article highlights, in the context of the legislation of the Russian Empire, the practice of using convict labor in the construction of dirt roads from Khabarovsk to Blagoveshchensk. The conditions of their work, the amount of work that was performed by them are considered. Work in summer from morning to evening in swamps, waist-deep in water. It was especially difficult in early spring and late autumn, when the convicts had to work in cold water, and lived in unheated barracks or in tents.

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... Manual earthworks belong to the category of heavy work. Logging was no less difficult. Here people were used as draft cattle for the transportation of logs. To this was added the rude attitude and mockery on the part of the guards. Special attention is paid to the effectiveness of the use of forced labor of convicts, the organization of construction management and the results of this construction. Contradictions between the convict superiors and the technical staff aggravated the confusion that reigned in the construction. It is proved that the "cheap" convict labor was labor-intensive and wasteful. The use of forced labor of convicts was considered not as a measure of re-education and correction of convicts, but as a punishment replacing the death penalty.