The legal status of sick convicts in the Russian Federation is a complex legal institution located at the junction of the penal and medical branches. It is based on international standards, the Constitution of the Russian Federation, which guarantees the right to health protection, as well as the norms of the Criminal and Penal Codes of the Russian Federation. The key elements of this provision are the right to receive medical care in institutions of the penal system, the possibility of release from punishment due to serious illness and the creation of acceptable conditions of detention, taking into account the state of health. However, a number of systemic problems arise on the way to realizing these rights and achieving the goals of correcting the convicted person and preventing the commission of new crimes. The main ones are the contradiction between the implementation of the punishment function by correctional institutions and the rehabilitation needs of the patient, as well as the chronic underfunding of the medical infrastructure of the FPS of Russia. This leads to the fact that treatment is often formal in nature, and the process of correction becomes impossible, since physical suffering and the struggle for survival suppress the convict's ability to introspect and assimilate social norms and readiness for life after release. In order to solve these problems and effectively correct sick convicts, significant changes must be made to the penal legislation. It is necessary to consolidate the priority of medical and social rehabilitation over general regime requirements, develop individual correction programs and adapt methods of psychological and pedagogical influence. Only the creation of a specialized, humane and resource-based system of execution of punishments for this category of persons will allow achieving the goals of correction, prevention and re-socialization proclaimed by law.