In the modern socio-political reality, in the conditions of changing laws and reformation of the penal system, the economic optimization of activities of the establishments and bodies of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia and its employees becomes especially topical. The purpose of the article is to study implementation of the leading experience and innovational technologies into the activities of the penal system as a factor of economic optimization of financial and human resources. In the process of the research, the general and specific scientific methods were used. The author provides the examples of using innovational technologies by employees of the penal system in the process of execution of punishments: systems of electronic document turnover, program, and technical complex of automatized filing of special squad, video surveillance in the penal system establishments, etc. The successful execution of the tasks of the penal system and economic optimization of its activities will be stimulates by implementation of the experience of foreign penitentiary systems (preferable use of the cell-prison system, consideration of architectural peculiarities of prisons for saving human resources and security of an establishment, practice of functioning of private prisons, creation of the genetic data base, etc.). The result of the performed analysis is determination of basic professional requirements set to the employees of the penal system who implement innovations and the conditions that stimulate economic optimization of expenditures in the sphere of human and financial resources of the penal system.