The exposition is devoted to a little-studied section of the political history of Russia - the activities of the police investigation and the revolutionary political prisoners at a turning point in Russian history.

The exposition is based on the rarities of the fund of the former Museum of Hard Labor and Exile, organized in Moscow by the Society of Former Political Prisoners and Exiled Settlers in the 1920s and 1930s, and subsequently transferred to the Central Museum of the Revolution.

The exposition includes items from the entire museum collection of the State Central Museum of Contemporary history of Russia: photographs and documents, items of clothing funds, personal collections, and a scientific archive.

A significant number of materials are presented here, illustrating the content of those convicted of political activity in Butyrka Prison and Alexandrovsky Central; everyday life of political prisoners and political exiles in Siberia and the Far East.

A special place is occupied by a complex dedicated to the work of political prisoners: these are drawings, boxes, albums made in specialized art workshops organized by prisons.