Abstract. Based on the assessment of the penal legislation of the member-countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the article examines the mechanisms for providing assistance to convicts released from serving a sentence of imprisonment. Along with proposals on improvement of the mechanism of assistance to persons who have served the imprisonment term, in the form of expanding the circle of persons who are explained the procedure for applying compulsory medical measures, including social work as a form of organizing assistance to persons who have served a sentence, increasing the effectiveness of notifications about the upcoming release from places of detention, payment of travel to the place of residence and follow-up after the release, options are formulated for improving the domestic penal legislation in terms of providing work to persons who have served a sentence of imprisonment and providing them with living quarters, consolidating the nature of interaction between correctional institutions and centers of social adaptation, and other specialized state bodies, and in the future – the creation of a probation service. Proposals are being formulated for the legislative regulation of the availability of individual programs of social and legal assistance and the allocation of job quotas to released persons. The methods of encouraging individuals and legal entities who provide jobs to persons released from correctional institutions are described separately. Key words: penal legislation, imprisonment, release from serving a sentence, labor and living arrangements, social adaptation, probation.