The penal and correctional system has undergone notable changes recently, including in the composition of personnel. In particular, there has been a significant rejuvenation of personnel. At the same time, the workload and requirements for professional training in the context of the constant development and significant expansion of its activities have not decreased, but on the contrary, have almost doubled. Of course, professional activity in the penitentiary system by virtue of its profile has always imposed and will continue to impose sufficiently serious requirements for professional skills and personality traits of the staff. At the same time, multiple contradictions, identified at the present stage of development of Russian society, are associated precisely with the need to reassess the current forms of professional training of young professionals, in particular, setting the task of developing their professionally oriented self-awareness, which is a regulating tool of professional activity. This task is a priority, because it affects the problem of development of professionalism and service activity in general.