In 1840s Dostoyevsky joined a group of men who met in secret to discuss social problems and social reform in Russia. The Tsar Nicholas I, fearing the spread of revolutionary ideas, felt the group was dangerous. In April 1849 Dostoyevsky and 23 others in the group were arrested, and sentenced to death.  Later, the sentence was changed to imprisonment in Siberia. He lived in a prison in Omsk for four years. While in prison he suffered from intensified epileptic seizures. In 1854 he was released from prison but required to serve in an army unit stationed in Siberia. He married a widow and in 1859 he returned to St. Petersburg.  Dostoyevsky's prison experiences left him with a firsthand knowledge of the criminal mind and of the human potential for evil, which would influence his later works. 

Dostoyevsky had severe financial problems, poor health, and a gambling addiction. During this time he wrote Zapiski iz mertvogodoma (The House of the Dead), and Zapiski iz podpol'ia (Notes from Underground). Dostoyevsky hoped to make a living by publishing a magazine, but it failed. In April 1864 Dostoyevsky's wife died, and his brother Mikhail died three months later. He was left with enormous debts from the failure of his second magazine and from the obligation he felt to support his brother's family. In 1867 he married Anna Snitkina and moved to Europe. They returned to Russia in 1871.

Dostoyevsky did his best in the four novels he wrote during the last 20 years of his life. These include Prestuplenie i nakazanie ( Crime and Punishment), Idiot (The Idiot), Besy (Devils), and Brat'ia Karamazovy ( The Brothers Karamazov).