Abstract: The subject of the study is the problem of forming a professional communicative competence among penal officers. The author examines such aspects of the problem as penal officers' professional communication, its types, and peculiar properties of officers' official activities. Special consideration is paid to peculiarities of professional communicative competence, depending on penal officers' activity profile, based on an experience of Perm Institute of Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia on forming professional and specialized competencies among students according to education program specialization. For the implementation of research problems, were applied the following survey methods: analysis and generalization of pedagogical, methodical literature on the subject; classification; generalization of pedagogical experience. The analysis of the specificity of professional communicative competence of the penal officers and models of training the graduates in "Organization of guard and escort in the prisons system", "Organization of the regime in the penal system", "Kinology" education program specializations of Perm Institute of Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia is carried out. Components of the professional communicative competence are determined: basic, general (general professional), situational (professional-profiled) communicative competences. Content of the professional communicative competence components according to education program specialization, and stages of its formation are set.