Report on the Remediation of Shortcomings in the Work of the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Sentences, as Outlined in the Act on the Results of the Inspection Conducted by the Interdepartmental Government Commission from 17–28 September 2007

·  

·  

Regarding the organisation of the activities of the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Sentences

In accordance with paragraph 2 of clause 8 of the Regulations on the Department, approved by Decree of the President of Ukraine No. 827/98 dated 31 July 1998, the Head of the Department: “...distributes duties among the Deputy Heads”.

However, the Temporary Functional Powers of the Head, the First Deputy Head, and the Deputy Heads of the Department were approved by the Head of the Department, V. V. Koshchynets, only on 03 July 2006, that is, one year and four months after V. V. Koshchynets was appointed Head of the Department.

This shortcoming was noted in the report on the results of the inspection conducted in April 2007 regarding the state of affairs in the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Sentences, which was carried out in fulfilment of subparagraph 2 of clause 12 of protocol 3 of the meeting of the Government Committee for Legal Policy, Defence, International Cooperation and European Integration dated 26 February 2007. At the time of the inspection, the shortcoming had been rectified. Furthermore, the Department is developing a new Regulation in accordance with the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 1143 dated 19 September 2007, “On Approval of the Model Regulation on a Central Executive Authority”.

In accordance with the General Regulation on the Board of a Central Executive Authority and Local State Administration, approved by Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 1569 dated 02 October 2003, the Regulation on the Board of the Department was approved by Department Order No. 209 dated 06 November 2003.

However, the composition of the Board of the Department was approved by Department Order No. 138 dated 24 July 2006, that is, one year and four months after V. V. Koshchynets was appointed Head of the Department.

In accordance with clause 1 of the Decree of the President of Ukraine No. 1902, “On the Board of a Ministry and Other Central Executive Authority”, the right to approve the personal composition of the board of a central executive authority was granted to the heads of central executive authorities only as of 31 December 2005; therefore, the board composition was approved not after one year and four months, but after seven months.

Furthermore, only on 14 March 2007, through Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 435, were amendments made to the General Regulation on the Board of a Central Executive Authority and Local State Administration, approved by Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 1569 dated 02 October 2003, by which the management of central executive authorities was granted the right to approve the personal composition of the board. Therefore, the reference to the Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 1569-2003 does not correspond to the content of the remark.

Following the change in the Department’s management in 2005, until July 2006, the Board worked with the composition approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, with the exception of those members who had resigned from service in the State Penal Service of Ukraine. At the time of the inspection, the shortcoming had been rectified.

It has also been established that work on bringing the Department’s regulatory legal acts into compliance with current legislation is being conducted improperly. Thus, in connection with the entry into force of the Criminal Executive Code of Ukraine on 01 January 2004 and the adoption of the Law of Ukraine “On the State Penal Service of Ukraine” on 23 June 2005, 68 Department orders were subject to review, yet to date, only 15 orders have been reviewed.

Information regarding the bringing of regulatory legal acts of the Department into compliance with the requirements of the Criminal Executive Code of Ukraine and the Law of Ukraine “On the State Penal Service of Ukraine” was not requested during the inspection and is outdated. As of 06 April 2007, 68 Department orders required review, of which 15 had been brought into compliance (information from the Legal Support and Claims Department dated 06 April 2007, outgoing No. 45).

As of 26 September 2007, the Department has brought 62 orders into compliance with the mentioned Law, and 6 are pending approval in other central executive authorities.

A significant number of materials prepared by structural units according to areas of work for the information support of operational meetings, board meetings, and other internal and interdepartmental events are of low quality, contain logically inconsistent information, and, in their content, do not meet the requirements set for analytical documents.

With the aim of improving organisational and analytical work in the structural units of the Department, as well as providing them with practical assistance, the Head of the Department approved a schedule on 21 August 2007 for conducting inspections of the organisation of work in the structural units of the central apparatus, and a draft of a new order regarding analytical work is being developed.

Board meetings of the Department are generally held within the timeframes determined by regulatory acts, as well as on an ad-hoc basis in the event of special circumstances. However, there is a tendency to focus primarily on production and economic issues, which could mostly be handled using other forms of management activity (operational meetings, seminars, briefings, etc.). At the same time, during 2005–2007, the Board did not consider issues related to the organisation of crime prevention in penal institutions, social work and the psychological support for the resocialisation of convicts, the organisation of security in penal institutions, the organisation of supervision and safety in penal institutions, and the state of social adaptation of persons released from places of deprivation of liberty.

In March 2007, the Department Board meeting considered the issue of the state of crime in penal institutions and the main measures for its prevention (protocol dated 31 March 2007, No. 5KD).

Furthermore, issues related to the organisation of crime prevention in penal institutions, social work and psychological support for the resocialisation of convicts, the organisation of security in penal institutions, and the organisation of supervision and safety in penal institutions are reviewed quarterly at Board meetings when summarising operational and service activities.

Production-related issues remain relevant.

Materials prepared for consideration at Board meetings and the decisions adopted do not always fully correspond to the importance of the agenda items and contain elements of a formalistic approach and template-based thinking.

The system for monitoring the implementation of Board decisions is appropriately established. However, the organisation of the consideration of issues regarding the implementation of previously adopted decisions at Board meetings requires improvement.

With the aim of eliminating duplication and formalism in the implementation of Board decisions, the Department analysed the status of the implementation of tasks determined by Board decisions during 2003–2004 in November 2005 (Department Board decision dated 25 November 2005, No. 11KD). Based on the results of the consideration, a list of tasks deemed appropriate to remain under control was prepared and approved.

Similar work was carried out in March 2007 (Department Board decision dated 31 March 2007, No. 5KD), based on the results of which a list of tasks determined in Department Board decisions during 2005–2006, which are deemed appropriate to remain under control, was approved.

Consideration of this issue at a Board meeting is scheduled for November of this year.

During the inspection of information regarding abuse of office by the Deputy Head of the Department (concerning business trips to the Zaporizhzhia region), it was established that in 2006 and the first 5.5 months of the current year, the Deputy Head had made 5 business trips to the Zaporizhzhia region.

In addition, information was confirmed that said Deputy did indeed travel on business to the Zaporizhzhia region from 06 April 2007 to 10 April 2007 and from 27 April 2007 to 02 May 2007 (a total of 11 days, including holidays), on which 2,149 UAH was spent. By comparison, in 2006, when the respective Deputy was officially in the Zaporizhzhia region for 15 days, 1,142 UAH was spent.

Given that the inflation rate from the beginning of 2006 to June 2007 was 11%, and considering that the mentioned Deputy owns an apartment in Zaporizhzhia, the increase in travel expenses in the Zaporizhzhia region by almost double, as well as more than triple across Ukraine as a whole, is surprising.

It is also necessary to note the effectiveness of the trips to this specific region, as the state of discipline among convicts (a direction overseen by the mentioned Deputy) worsened by 4% in 2006 (calculated per 1,000 convicts), and the number of malicious violations increased by 15.4%.

In accordance with Article 21 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Civil Service of Ukraine”, civil servants are reimbursed for expenses on business trips and receive other compensation in accordance with the labour laws of Ukraine.

Documents submitted by the Deputy Head based on the results of trips to bodies and institutions of the Zaporizhzhia region were drawn up in accordance with the requirements of the Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 663 dated 23 April 1999. In cases where actual accommodation expenses exceeded the norms, the corresponding approval from the superior was provided for payment, as provided for in clause 7 of the Resolution. Furthermore, paragraph 2 of clause 7 of this Resolution determines that expenses reimbursed in excess of the established norm are not considered excessive expenditure. Moreover, the issue of the correctness of the preparation of supporting documents and the legality of calculations for travel expenses was inspected by specialists of the Main Control and Auditing Department of Ukraine during the audit of the financial and economic activities of the Department. The audit report dated 22 June 2007 for the period from 01 January 2006 to 31 March 2007 states that no violations were found during the inspection of this issue.

The issue of the expenditure of funds for business trips was reviewed at an operational meeting of the Department’s management on 15 October 2007.

The inspection also established that the Department’s management consistently violates the requirements of paragraph four of clause 2 of the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 663 dated 23 April 1999, which approves the norms for reimbursement of travel expenses abroad, when meal expenses—the cost of which is included in bills for hotel accommodation or travel documents—are paid to the travelling person at the expense of per diems (trips conducted at the expense of the Council of Europe). This led to illegal payments for foreign business trips this year from the state budget in the amount of 1,195 UAH.

In accordance with the requirements of paragraph 2 of clause 2 of the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 663 dated 23 April 1999, “On the Norms for Reimbursement of Travel Expenses within Ukraine and Abroad”, in cases where employees sent abroad are provided with free meals in the country of the visit (or en route) under the terms of an invitation, or when employees travelling within Ukraine are provided with free meals by the organisers of such events, per diem expenses are reimbursed in amounts determined as a percentage of the per diem norms for that country according to the appendix, specifically 35 per cent for three meals a day. In all cases, the Department complied with the requirements of the mentioned Cabinet of Ministers Resolution.

·  

Regarding human resources support for service in the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Sentences, and the formation of the composition and human resources reserve of civil servants.

Until 2007, the regulations on six of its structural units (in particular, the Department of Social, Educational and Psychological Work; the Department of Security, Supervision and Safety; the Department of Organisational and Analytical Work; the Department of Medical Support and Sanitary-Epidemiological Control; the Department of Penal Inspection; and the Department for Control over the Execution of Court Decisions) were not reviewed and were not brought into compliance with the Department’s structure, approved by Department Order No. 94 dated 24 May 2005, and such structural units as the Department of Accounting and Reporting and the Department of Legal Support and Claims operated without any regulations at all. As of 25 September 2007, the mentioned violations have been rectified.

The mentioned shortcoming was indicated in the inspection report dated 17 April 2007, conducted by the Main Civil Service Department jointly with the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, and at the time of the inspection, it had been rectified.

In the Department, in accordance with the requirements of the Procedure for Conducting a Competition for Vacant Positions of Civil Servants, approved by Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 169 dated 15 February 2002 (hereinafter - the Procedure), a competition commission was formed by Order No. 213 dated 05 October 2000.

The mentioned shortcoming was indicated in the inspection report dated 17 April 2007, conducted by the Main Civil Service Department jointly with the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, and at the time of the inspection, it had been rectified.

When conducting competitions, there are shortcomings and violations of the requirements of the Procedure, namely:

- subparagraph 2 of clause 9 - the minutes of the competition commission meetings dated 30 November 2006, No. 24-06, and 13 February 2007, No. 4-07, do not indicate the consideration of documents received from persons wishing to participate in the competition regarding their compliance with the established qualification requirements for the respective level of position;

- subparagraph 3 of clause 9 - the mentioned minutes lack information on the results of the examination and the selection of candidates;

- clause 25 - the indicated minutes lack information on the conduct of interviews with persons who successfully passed the examination.

The mentioned shortcoming was indicated in the inspection report dated 17 April 2007. Since April 2007, when conducting competitions for vacant positions of civil servants, the minutes of the Department’s competition commission meetings mandatorily state the data on the consideration of documents accepted from persons wishing to participate in the competition. At the time of the inspection, this shortcoming had been rectified.

Also, the Department has not rectified violations of the requirements of subparagraph b) of clause 40 of section IV of the Regulation on Service by Privates and Commanding Staff of Internal Affairs Bodies of the Ukrainian SSR, approved by Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR No. 114 dated 29 July 1991, regarding attested Department employees remaining in vacant positions of heads of structural units as acting officials beyond the time limit (from 3 months to 1 year and 2 months). In accordance with the requirements of current legislation, the continuous period of acting in a vacant position should not exceed two months, and in a non-vacant position—four months.

As of 25 September 2007, the position of Head of the Department of Legal Support and Claims of the Department’s central apparatus remains vacant. This vacant position (since 26 January 2006) continues to be held by the acting Head of the Department of Legal Support and Claims, Internal Service Lieutenant Colonel V. M. Rizanenko.

In personnel orders appointing an employee as acting, in order to reduce documentation and for the subsequent reappointment of the employee, if necessary, it was stated that the employee is appointed for the period until the mentioned position is staffed.

Internal Service Lieutenant Colonel V. M. Rizanenko, who was appointed acting Head of the Department of Legal Support and Claims, performs the duties of the head in the absence of the head according to her functional duties (as Deputy Head of this department).

A candidate was selected for the position of Head of the Department of Legal Support and Claims, and in accordance with current requirements, the materials were sent for approval to the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine on 28 November 2006, which provided a negative response regarding their appointment to the position on 29 December 2006.

Given the importance of this area of work and the requirements of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, work is currently underway to select a candidate to fill this position.

In accordance with the requirements of the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 199 dated 28 February 2001, the Department has created and annually approves a human resources reserve for filling vacant civil service positions in the central apparatus.

However, the Department’s human resources reserve is ineffective. Over the last 5 years, only 2 employees from the human resources reserve were appointed to civil service positions in 2006: A. A. Puhach to the position of Chief Specialist of the Pension Department (Department Order No. 40 o/s dated 07 June 2006) and H. O. Svoyak to the position of Lead Specialist replacing A. A. Puhach (Department Order No. 40 o/s dated 07 June 2006).

In 2007, by Department Order No. 50o/s dated 11 September 2007, 1 employee (O. O. Havrylenko) was appointed to the position of Lead Specialist in the Department of Resource, Household, and Utility Support.

In accordance with clause 4 of the requirements of the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 199 dated 28 February 2001, the human resources reserve for specialist positions in the Department’s central apparatus is formed taking into account actual needs.

The HR Department conducts annual monitoring to forecast the vacancy of civil service positions, for which lists of persons admitted to the human resources reserve are compiled. In 2003, there were 4 civil servants in the human resources reserve, in 2004 – 4, in 2005 – 4, in 2006 – 4, and in 2007 – 3.

Indeed, in 2006 and 2007, 3 employees were appointed from the human resources reserve to the respective positions, but it should be noted that vacancies appeared for these 3 positions in 2006 (2 positions) and 2007 (1 position) respectively.

·  

·  

Regarding the remediation of violations detected by audits

Thus, the amount of detected financial violations that led to losses decreased accordingly and totalled 7.3 million UAH (illegal expenditure of material and monetary resources – 3.4 million UAH; misappropriation of budget funds and material resources – 0.7 million UAH; shortage of resources – 0.1 million UAH; short-received financial resources – 3.1 million UAH).

The Interdepartmental Commission took into account that the total amount of violations that led to losses of financial resources is 7.3 million UAH, and not 7.9 million UAH as indicated in the letter from the Main Control and Auditing Department dated 03 August 2007, No. 08-14/1192, “On the Results of Audits of Enterprises and Institutions of the Penal System of Ukraine”.

Of the total amount of the indicated violations, 1.6 million UAH represents violations of the requirements of the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 1078 dated 17 July 2003 regarding the mandatory indexation of employees’ monetary income, which was fully rectified at the time of the inspection.

Audits of the financial and economic activities of the Department’s business entities revealed the misuse of budget funds in the total amount of 689.7 thousand UAH. As the analysis of the structure of this violation showed, about 45% (or 309.4 thousand UAH) of the violations are related to the use of food products for convicts between funding programmes 6071020, “Maintenance of a special contingent in institutions of the penal system”, and 6071060, “Maintenance of a special contingent suffering from tuberculosis in institutions of the penal system”, which was caused, first and foremost, by significant underfunding for the maintenance of convicts. A similar situation was considered by the Suvorovsky District Court of the city of Kherson (resolution dated 23 May 2007) regarding the fact of misuse of budget funds under KPKV 6071060 KEKV 1133 in the total amount of 319.7 thousand UAH, and a criminal case was initiated against officials of the Darivska Correctional Colony of the Department Administration in the Kherson Region (No. 10). The court concluded that no damage was caused to the state. By the decision of the same court, the criminal case was closed.

Audits conducted by employees of the State Control and Auditing Service bodies at business entities and the central apparatus of the Department revealed other financial violations that did not lead to losses of resources in the total amount of 248.1 million UAH.

During the conduct of audits of the financial and economic activities of territorial bodies and institutions of the penal service, violations of procurement procedures were revealed in the total amount of 21.1 million UAH, which cannot be reimbursed because the legislation does not provide for a mechanism for the reimbursement of this amount.

The guilty officials, in accordance with the orders of the heads of the relevant business entities of the Department, have been brought to disciplinary responsibility. Furthermore, the specialists of the State Control and Auditing Service bodies who carried out the control measures applied administrative influence measures provided for by the Law of Ukraine “On the State Control and Auditing Service in Ukraine” (i.e., the guilty officials paid fines in accordance with the Administrative Code of Ukraine).

During the work of the Interdepartmental Commission, the remaining violations that did not lead to losses, in the total amount of 128.0 million UAH, were fully rectified, of which the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Main Control and Auditing Department were informed via letters dated 27 September 2007, No. 10/4410/Kn and No. 10/4389/Vs respectively.

The issue regarding the results of the Department audit by the Main Control and Auditing Department has been submitted for consideration by the Board on 26 October of this year.

With the aim of changing the status of production and involving convicts in work, Department Order No. 246 dated 17 September 2007 provided for the creation of educational-production workshops in 10 correctional colonies and 22 penal institutions, in which medical facilities function, and a Model Regulation on workshops for penal institutions was approved.

At the same time, the Department, during the period that passed from the day of the completion of the Main Control and Auditing Department audit to the time of the Interdepartmental Commission’s work—that is, from 22 June 2007 to 26 September 2007—did not apply to the Cabinet of Ministers regarding the resolution of this issue; there was only an appeal to the Ministry of Finance regarding the write-off of tax debt (Department letter No. 9/9-14291/kn dated 21 September 2007), meaning this letter was sent during the work of the Interdepartmental Commission.

The main reason for the slowing down of this process is the existence of large tax debts of penal institution enterprises, which makes it impossible to remove them from registration (close them).

The mentioned issue was considered at the meeting of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, and a decision was adopted on 20 July 2007, “On proposals regarding the financial provision for the implementation of measures in the sphere of national security and defence for inclusion in the draft Law of Ukraine ‘On the State Budget of Ukraine for 2008’”.

Upon the Department’s appeal, subparagraph “b” of clause 2 of the Decision gave instructions to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to ensure the determination, by the end of 2007, of the procedure for the repayment of debt of penal institution enterprises of the State Penal Service of Ukraine on tax payments to budgets of all levels that had formed as of 01 January 2007.

With the aim of resolving the mentioned problem, the Department was given instructions by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 36956/2/1-07 dated 30 August 2007, pursuant to subparagraph “b” of clause 2 of the Decree of the President of Ukraine No. 791 dated 27 August 2007, “On the Decision of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine dated 20 July 2007, ‘On proposals regarding financial provision for the implementation of measures in the sphere of national security and defence for inclusion in the draft Law of Ukraine “On the State Budget of Ukraine for 2008”’”, to ensure the preparation and submission of proposals regarding the determination of the procedure for the repayment of the debt of penal institution enterprises on tax payments to budgets of all levels that had formed as of 01 January 2007.

By clause 3 of the protocol of the meeting chaired by the Vice-Prime Minister of Ukraine O. I. Kuzmuk on 23 August 2007, No. 36546/0/1-07, instructions were given to the Department, together with the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, to prepare a draft plan regarding the development of bills to improve the activities of the State Penal Service of Ukraine, including the creation of favourable conditions for the development of penal institution enterprises. On 19 September 2007, the Plan was approved by the Minister of Justice of Ukraine, O. V. Lavrynovych.

Furthermore, on 08 September 2007, the Head of the Department, V. V. Koshchynets, personally appealed regarding the problem of writing off the tax debt to the First Deputy Minister of Finance of Ukraine, V. A. Kopylov.

Thus, after the completion of the audit and before the start of the Interdepartmental Commission’s work, the Department took the appropriate measures, and work in this direction is ongoing.

·  

·  

Regarding issues related to the prevention of manifestations of corruption and compliance by employees of the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Sentences with the requirements of Articles 13 and 16 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Civil Service” and Articles 5 and 6 of the Law of Ukraine “On Combating Corruption”.

Specifically, in the course of the practical implementation of the requirements of the Law of Ukraine “On Combating Corruption”, only special units of the Security Service of Ukraine in the first half of the current year identified and suppressed 20 instances of corruption by Department employees. In total, courts held 33 employees of the State Penal Service accountable for corrupt acts in 2007 (2006—46). Corrupt practices are present in a wide range of Department officials: from a junior inspector to a correctional colony head and deputy head of a department. An example is holding the Head of the Snizhne Correctional Colony (Donetsk Region) and the Chief Accountant of the same institution administratively liable for violating special restrictions on persons authorised to perform functions of the state (facilitating the entrepreneurial activity of CJSC Kyivstar GSM).

According to the statistical data of the Internal Security and Investigations Department of the Department, which were provided for inspection, during the first half of 2007, special units of the Security Service of Ukraine drew up 15 administrative protocols concerning personnel of the penal service (including protocols that went through the court), on the basis of which the guilty officials were held administratively liable for committing corrupt acts. Of these 15 protocols, 10 were drawn up based on materials from the operational units of the State Penal Service, and 5 were based on materials from Security Service of Ukraine employees.

·  

·  

Regarding the organisation of operational-service and investigative activity in the institutions of the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Sentences during 2005–2007.

From closed-type correctional colonies in 2006, convicts committed 3 escapes (Colony No. 77 of the Zaporizhzhia Region, Colony No. 16 of the Poltava Region, and Colony No. 12 of the Kharkiv Region). From minimum-security institutions with lenient conditions of detention, 18 escapes were committed (4 each in the Zaporizhzhia, Poltava, and Kharkiv regions; and 1 case each in the Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zhytomyr, Ternopil, Kherson, and Chernivtsi regions).

In general, the growth in crime in 2006 in the institutions of the penal service occurred due to the commission of crimes provided for in Article 390 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (evasion of serving a sentence)—from 106 to 123, or by 16%. Thus, under “preventive” articles (263, 342, 345, 390, 391) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, institutions’ administrations initiated 358 criminal cases, which constitutes 87% of their total number. Moreover, in 2006, compared to 2005, the number of convicts in correctional centres increased by more than 300 persons.

In 2006, at the Department Board meeting, the issue of the activity of correctional centres was considered, including the provision of supervision over convicts in them (Board protocol dated 29 September 2006, No. 13KD).

In 2007, the issue of improving the activity of correctional centres was considered twice at the Department Board meetings (protocols dated 02 March 2007, No. 3KD; dated 20 July 2007, No. 9KD).

During the first half of 2007, in the Department’s correctional colonies, 264 criminal cases were initiated against 218 in the corresponding period of the previous year, or 21% more.

The level of crime calculated per 1,000 convicts increased by 29.8% and stands at 2.17 (in the 1st half of 2006, it was 1.67).

The growth in crime in penal institutions in 2007 occurred due to the commission of crimes provided for in Article 391 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (malicious disobedience)—from 135 to 143, or by 6%; Article 390 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (evasion of serving a sentence)—from 56 to 85, or by 52%; Article 393 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (escape)—from 5 to 10, or by 100%; and Articles 307–309 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (distribution of narcotic substances)—from 7 to 13, or by 86%.

Under preventive articles (263, 342, 345, 390, 391) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, institutions’ administrations initiated 233 criminal cases, which constitutes 88% of their total number.

During the first half of 2007, the commission of grave crimes was prevented. In total, no crimes were committed in 40 institutions, and in 61, criminal cases were initiated only under the preventive articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. In the first half of 2007, 143 criminal cases were initiated under Article 391 (malicious disobedience) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine—or 6% more than in the corresponding period of the previous year (in 2006—135).

Even the inspection report states that the application of Article 391 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine to convicts who are malicious violators of the established detention regime is an effective preventive measure that contributes to maintaining proper order in correctional colonies, counteracting the revival of criminal traditions, and improving the state of the operational environment.

A negative example of the above is the parole in 2004 from Colony No. 4 of the Zhytomyr Region of V. I. Kyrychenko, who was convicted in 1999 under Art. 93 p. "a, g, i", 222 part 2 of the Criminal Code (ed. 1960) of Ukraine (murder as part of a group of two or more persons) to the death penalty.

Indeed, in 1999, he was sentenced to an exceptional measure of punishment—execution. By resolution of the Supreme Court dated 28 October 1999, the sentence regarding V. I. Kyrychenko was changed to 15 years of deprivation of liberty.

By Decree of the President of Ukraine dated 13 September 2004, the primary measure of punishment (deprivation of liberty) was reduced to 10 years. On 23 November 2004, by resolution of the Bohunsky District Court of the Zhytomyr Region regarding V. I. Kyrychenko, Article 82 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine was applied—deprivation of liberty was replaced by correctional labour for a term of 2 years.

At the present time, it is not possible to conduct an inspection into the fact of the application of benefits provided for by current legislation to V. I. Kyrychenko due to the absence of his personal file. The officials of the Zhytomyr Correctional Colony (No. 4) who made the decision to send materials to the court regarding the application of Article 82 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine to Kyrychenko were dismissed from the penal service in 2005.

·  

·  

Regarding the implementation by the Department of state programmes concerning the improvement of conditions for the detention of persons convicted of deprivation of liberty for 2005–2007.

However, the measures taken regarding the humanisation of criminal punishments did not sufficiently contribute to the reduction of the number of prisoners. Contrary to the requirements of Art. 115 of the Criminal Executive Code of Ukraine, 1,145 persons are serving sentences in minimum-security correctional colonies with general detention conditions in excess of the existing places according to sanitary standards, 3,725 persons in medium-security colonies, and 34 persons in maximum-security colonies. The placement of convicts sentenced to life imprisonment, of whom there are already over 1,500, is becoming increasingly problematic. Some of them (175 persons), in violation of the requirements of Art. 150, 151 of the Criminal Executive Code of Ukraine, have been kept for a long time in pre-trial detention centres, that is, in pre-trial institutions that do not meet the regime requirements established for persons sentenced to such punishment.

Extremely limited financing of budget funds for the fulfilment of tasks regarding the improvement of conditions for serving sentences, at the level of 11 per cent of the need during 2000–2005, did not allow for resolving the issue of the placement of convicts in penal institutions in accordance with the requirements of the Criminal Executive Code of Ukraine.

With the aim of resolving the issue regarding the provision of proper detention conditions for convicts sentenced to life imprisonment in 2007, the execution of work on the expansion of the maximum-security sector by 70 places for the mentioned category of convicts was started at the Romny Colony No. 56 in the Sumy Region.

The state of observance of human rights was considered at the Board meeting on 20 July 2007, No. 9KD.

The state of compliance with constitutional rights of citizens during the execution of sentences in the form of restriction of liberty remains particularly alarming. In the state, a standard model has still not been developed, and not a single institution has been created that would meet the requirements of the law regarding the execution of this type of punishment. The vast majority of open-type penal institutions (correctional centres) were created through the re-profiling of correctional colonies.

As of today, the State Specialised Design Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine has developed the latest edition of Departmental Building Codes V.2.2—2007, “Buildings and structures. Designing of penal institutions and pre-trial detention centres”, in which, in particular, special requirements in terms of the arrangement of correctional centres are provided. After the expert assessment and approval of the aforementioned codes, the Department will conduct appropriate work on bringing the conditions for the detention of convicts sentenced to restriction of liberty into compliance with the legislation.

Regarding the standard model of an open-type penal institution, we note that the Rules of Internal Order of Penal Institutions, approved by Order of the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Sentences No. 275 dated 25 December 2003, registered with the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine on 31 December 2003 under No. 1277/8598, and agreed with the General Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine, define the general requirements for the equipment of penal institutions and the specifics of the equipment of correctional centres.

Also, in accordance with the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated 03 August 2006, No. 1090, “On Approval of the State Programme for Improving Conditions of Detention of Convicts and Persons Taken into Custody for 2006–2010”, work is being completed on the development of norms for the design and construction of penal institutions and pre-trial detention centres, where rules for the arrangement of correctional centres will be defined separately.

In them, engineering and technical means of security for territories, alarm and notification systems, and observation towers are left and used; local isolation of individual sections of the territory is allowed; and there exists a strict regime of checkpoints, which are inherent to closed-type penal institutions intended for serving sentences in the form of deprivation of liberty. Such conditions for the detention of citizens sentenced to restriction of liberty exist in correctional centres of the Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, Sumy, and Chernihiv regions.

The use in correctional centres of engineering and technical means of security for the territory, alarm and notification systems, and video surveillance is not legally defined. To avoid misunderstandings, the Department issued Order No. 105 dated 08 May 2007, “On Approval of Amendments to the Instruction on the Organisation of the Order and Conditions for the Execution of Punishment in the Form of Restriction of Liberty”, which was submitted in the established order for legal expertise to the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, based on the results of which there are corresponding conclusions that the mentioned order complies with the current legislation of Ukraine, the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of 1950 and its protocols, and does not violate human rights.

As a result, the mentioned Department order underwent state registration with the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine on 21 May 2007 under No. 519/13786.

As for the isolation of individual sections of territories in individual correctional centres, the existing engineering structures do not create any isolation of convicts and do not hinder their free movement.

Observation towers in correctional centres are used to exercise supervision over the behaviour of convicts, which is provided for by the requirements of the Criminal and Criminal Executive Codes of Ukraine, and checkpoints are equipped in fulfilment of the requirements of Art. 11, 18 of the Law of Ukraine “On the State Penal Service of Ukraine”.

The management of the State Department for the Execution of Sentences and its regional administrations ignore the requirements of the law regarding the creation of proper material and household conditions for detention, medical and sanitary support, and food for convicts, which leads to the outrage of persons serving such sentences, their relatives, and national and international human rights institutions. Such violations prompted convicts in the Balakliia Correctional Centre of the Kharkiv Region in October 2006 and January 2007 to openly appeal to the central mass media for the protection of their rights regarding inhumane conditions of detention.

The Department is constantly taking measures to improve the material and household support of correctional centres and to ensure proper order in them.

In September 2006 and March and August 2007, at the Department Board meetings, the state of affairs in open-type institutions was considered as a separate issue, and measures for its improvement were determined.

With the aim of increasing the professional skills of correctional centre heads, in February 2007, on the basis of penal institutions of the Department Administration in the Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions, training sessions were conducted, and in July—training for deputy heads of correctional centres on the basis of the Bila Tserkva Vocational Training School for Penal Service Employees.

At operational meetings in the Department, reports are heard from the heads of the Department’s territorial management bodies and correctional centres that have low work performance indicators. Thus, in the current year, reports were heard from the heads of Department administrations in the Zaporizhzhia, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Kharkiv regions, and the Druzhyliubivka, Dolyna, and Balakliia correctional centres.

For bringing the conditions of serving a sentence in the form of restriction of liberty into compliance with the legislation of Ukraine and increasing the number of places in open-type penal institutions in 2007, the Department, by its orders, liquidated the correctional centre at the Yenakiieve Correctional Colony and created the Kerch and Mariupol correctional centres. The creation of proper conditions for serving sentences in correctional centres is restrained by underfunding by more than 90% of the general funding fund of the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 1090 dated 03 August 2006, “On Approval of the State Programme for Improving Conditions of Detention of Convicts and Persons Taken into Custody for 2006–2010”.

In accordance with the requirements of Art. 63 of the Criminal Executive Code of Ukraine, therapeutic-preventive and anti-epidemic work in correctional centres is organised and conducted by healthcare bodies and institutions.

In accordance with Art. 64 of the same code, convicts who are kept in correctional centres purchase food and clothing with their own funds.

Inadequate conditions for serving sentences also became the cause of a group refusal to accept food by convicts in the Iziaslav Correctional Colony of the Khmelnytskyi Region in January of the current year.

Indeed, on 14 January 2007, at the time determined by the daily routine, convicts in the Iziaslav Correctional Colony (No. 31) did not go to take food in the institution’s canteen, while they were eating their own food in the dormitories.

The convicts justified their refusal to take food with complaints regarding bias on the part of the institution’s personnel during the fulfilment of the established order for serving the sentence, the unsatisfactory quality of drinking water, and the work of the institution’s kiosk. In addition, the convicts put forward a demand for the removal of the institution’s management from their positions.

During a thorough inspection, it was established that a number of convicts of a negative orientation, with the aim of obtaining benefits and privileges not provided for by legislation, incited the vast majority of convicts to refuse to take food in the institution’s canteen. They used both moral and physical pressure on convicts; there were facts of beatings of other convicts by convicts of a negative orientation.

However, a significant part of the funds allocated from the state budget goes to pay for the services of the commercial enterprise “Departmentservice” created by the Department, which essentially took over the functions of the material and technical support department and became perhaps the only supplier of food products, goods, and services to penal institutions.

In accordance with Department Order No. 12 dated 31 December 2006, “On Approval of the Regulation on the Department of Resource, Household, and Utility-Operational Support of the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Sentences”, the Department of Resource, Household, and Utility-Operational Support is directly responsible for the resource, household, and utility-operational (material-technical) support of the bodies and institutions of the State Penal Service.

Over the 10 months of 2007, the Department of Resource, Household, and Utility-Operational Support organised the purchase of food for convicts and persons taken into custody at the expense of budget expenditures in the amount of 133.77 million UAH, incl. through the State Enterprise “Departmentservice”, which was determined as the winner of the relevant procurement procedures, in the amount of 6.36 million UAH, which constitutes 4.7% of total purchases.

The State Enterprise “Departmentservice” did not supply other goods in 2007 and did not provide services.

·  

Regarding the financial and economic activity of the Department, the repayment of wage arrears to personnel, tax payments to budgets of all levels, and the state of provision of jobs for persons sentenced to deprivation of liberty.

According to the information provided by the Department, the financial and economic activity of the enterprises of penal institutions of the State Penal Service of Ukraine is in an unsatisfactory state, primarily due to significant arrears in payments to budgets of all levels.

According to the decision of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine dated 20 July 2007, “On proposals regarding financial provision for the implementation of measures in the sphere of national security and defence for inclusion in the draft Law of Ukraine ‘On the State Budget of Ukraine for 2008’”, the write-off of debt on taxes and payments to budgets of all levels is provided for.

The vast majority of production equipment is physically and morally worn out and does not meet the elementary requirements of safety regulations. The high cost of production generates the use of non-transparent barter schemes, in the course of which completely liquid colony production is exchanged at arbitrary prices for food products of dubious quality, which makes it impossible to pay convicts with real money and transfer the amounts collected from their earnings for the reimbursement of damage caused by crimes and alimony. The activity of penal institution enterprises is characterised by a large number of violations of legality.

Taking into account that the main criteria for the development of production in penal institutions at the present time are the enterprises’ own capabilities and the involvement of customer investments in production, by the decision of the Department Board dated 02 February 2007, No. 2/KD, the Main Measures regarding technical re-equipment and the expansion of production capacities of penal institution enterprises were approved. For the first half of 2007, at penal institution enterprises, an additional 653 units of technological equipment were put into operation (75.3% of the planned amount for 2007), which made it possible to employ 1,588 convicts.

The implementation of similar Measures in 2006 made it possible to increase the number of new technological equipment by almost 400 units.

At the same time, it should be noted that despite the fact that the vast majority of production equipment of penal institution enterprises is indeed physically worn out and morally outdated, the number of cases of occupational injury has a tendency to decrease (48 in the 9 months of 2006 and 29 in the 9 months of the current year).

The level of payments for shipped goods in monetary form increased from 57 per cent (2005) to 59 per cent (2007). The existing level of barter is, in most cases, due to the provision of food to penal institutions for convicts at the expense of the enterprises. Inter-balance accounts receivable, due to budget underfunding, are increasing annually by 15 million UAH, which are not recovered but written off after 3 years (the statute of limitations expires), which affects the final financial results of the enterprises.

According to statistical data, the level of payments for shipped goods in monetary form for the first 8 months of 2007 increased from 57% (2005) to 68.5%.

Due to insufficient budget funding, penal institutions use the funds of institutional enterprises; in particular, inter-balance accounts receivable of budgetary activity to production increased during 2005 from 40.4 million UAH to 53.2 million, and during 2006 it grew by another 15.2 million UAH.

Significant diversion of funds received from production activities to the maintenance of convicts, as well as infrastructure that mainly serves the needs of budgetary activities, has significantly worsened the financial condition of penal institutions.

Pre-trial and litigation work in 2007 was conducted regarding accounts receivable for a total amount of only 4,104.3 thousand UAH, or 16.4 per cent of the total amount of accounts receivable for shipped goods, works, and services that existed as of 01.01.07.

For instance, in the Chernihiv region, where the largest increase in wage arrears had occurred since the beginning of 2007, as of 15.09.07 arrears existed at 3 enterprises: Pryluky Penal Colony – 63.8 thousand UAH, Chernihiv Penal Colony No. 44 – 57.5 thousand UAH, Menska Penal Colony No. 91 – 14.5 thousand UAH. At the same time, the accounts receivable for shipped goods, works, and services at these enterprises as of 01.09.07 exceeded the amounts of wage arrears and amounted to: Pryluky Penal Colony – 69.9 thousand UAH, including 35.3 thousand UAH related to pre-trial and litigation work; Chernihiv Penal Colony No. 44 – 344.2 thousand UAH, including 23.6 thousand UAH related to pre-trial and litigation work; Menska Penal Colony No. 91 – 14.8 thousand UAH, including 3.1 thousand UAH related to pre-trial and litigation work.

During the inspection, the commission did not request this information from the legal support and claims department. The data on pre-trial and litigation work provided in the Report are outdated.

Accounts receivable for shipped goods and services provided as of 01.07.2007 amounted to 26.08 million UAH.

In the first half of 2007, 874 claims were submitted for a total amount of 10.9 million UAH and 210 lawsuits for an amount of 4.5 million UAH (a total amount of 15.3 million UAH).

It should be noted that in the Report, accounts receivable are presented as a cumulative total for all years as of 01.07.2007, while the amount of submitted claims and lawsuits covers only the first half of 2007 (accounting for 58.8%). Furthermore, this amount did not include claims and lawsuits filed in the previous year for which collection efforts are ongoing. In particular, in the first half of 2007, 75 applications for 984.5 thousand UAH were submitted to the State Executive Service for debt collection based on recognised claims and court decisions, 4 applications for 27.0 thousand UAH – to courts of general jurisdiction to change the method of executing a court decision, 53 for 905.6 thousand UAH – to law enforcement agencies, and 1 appeal for 63.3 thousand UAH to the debtor's superior organisation.

During this period, penal institutions of the Chernihiv region submitted:

– Chernihiv Penal Colony (No. 44) – 14 claims and 1 lawsuit for a total of 34.1 thousand UAH;

– Menska Penal Colony (No. 91) – 7 claims and 3 lawsuits for a total of 25.0 thousand UAH;

– Domnytskyi Correctional Centre (No. 135) – 16 claims and 2 lawsuits for a total of 22.4 thousand UAH;

– Pryluky Penal Colony – 14 claims and 1 lawsuit for a total of 70.3 thousand UAH.

Total: 151.7 thousand UAH.

The low level of pre-trial and litigation work is one of the reasons for the emergence of significant amounts of accounts receivable, and as a result, the lack of funds in enterprise accounts and the emergence of wage arrears.

The emergence of significant amounts of accounts receivable was influenced by such factors as entering into contracts with intermediary structures without assessing their solvency, shipping products without prepayment, customers violating payment deadlines for products (services provided, work performed), and conducting payments in non-cash form.

According to clause 3.2 of the board decision dated 7 October 2005 No. 9KD, the release of finished goods to consumers is carried out via prepayment. This has made it possible to reduce accounts receivable for shipped products from 43.0 million UAH to 24.9 million UAH over the last two years.

With the aim of raising the professional level and improving pre-trial and litigation work, the bodies and institutions of the penal system are taking appropriate measures: the state of legal and pre-trial/litigation work is analysed twice a year, for which reviews are prepared and sent to the territorial management bodies of the Department with instructions on eliminating deficiencies; seminar-meetings are held, to which specialists from other organisations are invited.

In particular, on 6–7 September 2007, a seminar-meeting was held at the Department with legal advisers of the administrations and departments of the Department in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the regions, the city of Kyiv, and the Kyiv region, and penal institutions, in which representatives of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, the State Property Fund of Ukraine, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine, and the High Administrative Court of Ukraine took part.

During the first half of 2007, the territorial management bodies of the Department held 41 seminars with legal advisers of penal institutions and 13 with managers and other employees of the penal service. 43 methodological recommendations were prepared.

Legal advisers of territorial management bodies conducted 18 inspections of the state of legal and pre-trial/litigation work of subordinate penal institutions (which was noted as a positive development in the summary regarding the organisation of legal work by ministries and other central executive authorities for the first half of 2007, conducted by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine (out. No. 35-1590 dated 01.10.2007)).

Based on the results of these inspections, appropriate instructions are provided regarding the elimination of deficiencies and the taking of measures to improve work.

The deterioration of the financial condition of penal institutions is primarily due to their insufficient funding, which over the last seven years has averaged 40 per cent of the regulatory requirement.

In essence, enterprises of the State Penal Service of Ukraine are self-financing and do not receive funding from the budget.

In accordance with Article 13 of the Law of Ukraine “On the State Penal Service of Ukraine”, enterprises of penal institutions are state-owned enterprises that carry out non-commercial economic activity without the aim of making a profit, for the purpose of providing vocational training to convicts and involving them in labour.

2. Sale of inventory assets that are under tax pledge without coordination with tax authorities: the enterprise of the Mohyliv-Podilskyi Penal Colony No. 114 (Vinnytsia region), the enterprise of the Arbuzynka Penal Colony No. 83 (Mykolaiv region), and the enterprise of the Kuriazh Penal Colony (Kharkiv region).

In accordance with Article 26 of the Law of Ukraine “On the State Penal Service of Ukraine”, the property of bodies and institutions of the penal system, pre-trial detention centres, educational institutions, healthcare institutions, enterprises of penal institutions, and other enterprises, institutions, and organisations created to ensure the fulfilment of the tasks of the State Penal Service of Ukraine belongs to them on the basis of operational management or full economic authority and cannot be the object of a pledge.

·   

·   

The state of provision of jobs for persons sentenced to imprisonment in penal institutions

In fact, those working in paid jobs included: in 2005 – 28,292 convicts, or 24.8% of the number of able-bodied persons, and in 2006 – only 22,656 persons, or 20.6%.

The indicators of the actual number of convicts employed in paid jobs used in the Report are estimates, not actual figures.

According to statistical data, 44.6 thousand convicts (39.1%) were employed in paid jobs in 2005, and 37.1 thousand convicts (35.3%) in 2006.

Ultimately, in 2006, an unsatisfactory state of employment for persons sentenced to imprisonment occurred in the penal institutions of the Donetsk region, where 15,762 persons (92.8%) were effectively without work, Lviv – 4,704 persons (93.7%), Sumy – 3,062 persons (95.9%), Kherson – 3,019 persons (89.2%), Luhansk – 7,968 persons (86.1%), Odesa – 3,481 persons (85.7%), Kirovohrad – 2,124 persons (88.8%), and Vinnytsia – 3,820 persons (87.2%).

According to statistical data in the penal institutions of the Donetsk region, 13,968 persons (84.6%) were effectively without work, Lviv – 4,045 persons (83.2%), Sumy – 2,697 persons (87%), Kherson – 2,647 persons (86.5%), Luhansk – 5,653 persons (61.9%), Odesa – 2,190 persons (58.6%), Kirovohrad – 1,200 persons (65.4%), and Vinnytsia – 2,828 persons (66.2%).

Due to low labour productivity (the average level of meeting output quotas in 2005 was 53.1%, and in 2006 – 52.8%), two convicts were engaged to perform work calculated by the norm for one worker, and in the Cherkasy region – 11 persons, Lviv – 8 persons, Odesa – 6 persons, and Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Chernihiv, and Luhansk regions – 5 persons.

Low labour productivity and, accordingly, a low level of fulfilling output quotas by piece-rate workers is caused by the lack of work skills in the majority of convicts. The vast majority of convicts have qualification grades for their profession no higher than the second level.

Over the last 10 years, more than 50% of convicts consist of persons under the age of 30 who have never worked or studied a profession, and who lack work experience and blue-collar trades.

Every fourth convict has mental illnesses or disorders. Among the convicts, there are: about 8.2 thousand dependent on alcohol; 14.3 thousand registered drug addicts; about a thousand people with group I and II disabilities; 7.8 thousand patients with active tuberculosis; and 4.5 thousand HIV-infected individuals.

All this leads to the fact that the labour productivity of convicts is almost 4 times lower than the average for the industry of Ukraine.

According to the Department, the average monthly salary of convicts for the specified period was, respectively, 134.4 UAH and 166.7 UAH, which is 2.2 times less than the minimum wage.

In accordance with current legislation (Art. 120 of the Penal Code of Ukraine and the Department's order dated 04.10.2004 No. 191 “On Approval of the Instructions for Remuneration of Convicts to Restriction and Imprisonment”, registered with the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine on 18.10.2004 under No. 1328/9924), the work of convicts is paid according to its quantity and quality.

Enterprises of penal institutions calculate tariff rates and official salaries for the differentiation of remuneration taking into account the minimum wage depending on the profession and qualifications of the convicts, and the complexity and conditions of the work performed by them.

The generally low size of the average monthly salary of working convicts is explained by their failure to meet established output quotas.

The results of work on contract-based jobs do not affect the production efficiency of penal institutions – regional economic structures create the workplaces and, at the expense of cheap labour, receive the profit from the sale of products. At the same time, the convicts have a constant income, from which deductions are made for goods and services received, and 50% of the accruals are transferred to penal institutions as income from the labour utilisation of the special contingent. This form of employment for convicts allowed for the engagement of a total of 12.6% of those working in paid jobs (4,681 persons) throughout 2006, and in institutions of the Dnipropetrovsk region – 36.3% (1,432 persons), Ivano-Frankivsk – 30% (158 persons), Kherson – 26% (109 persons), Odesa – 23% (359 persons), Vinnytsia – 14.7% (212 persons), Kharkiv – 14% (477 persons), and Poltava – 13.5% (345 persons).

According to Article 118 of the Penal Code of Ukraine, convicts are engaged in work at state-owned and other forms of ownership enterprises on the condition of ensuring their proper security and isolation.

Regime requirements regarding employment on contract-based jobs for only certain categories of convicts and staff shortages in institutions make it impossible to involve a significant number of convicts in contract-based work.

With the aim of increasing income from labour utilisation and directing it towards financing the budgetary activities of penal institutions, the administrations of these institutions are increasing the assignment of convicts to work with hourly wages, who functionally ensure the maintenance of workstations, equipment repair, and other auxiliary work, rather than the production of main goods.

Thus, while during 2006 (on average) 20.6% of the number of convicts (4,681 persons) who should have been working in paid jobs, based on the labour-intensiveness of production programmes (22,656 units), were assigned to hourly-paid work, in institutions of the Zaporizhzhia region, 49% of the specified number worked on such jobs (985 persons), Zhytomyr – 40% (432 units), Kirovohrad – 37% (99 units), Sumy – 34% (44 units), Luhansk – 31% (397 units), Donetsk – 28% (338 units), Lviv – 26% (84 units), and Kharkiv – 21% (612 units).

Expenditures on the maintenance of this category of workers are included in semi-fixed costs, which leads to an increase in the cost of production, a decrease in its profitability, and, in general, production efficiency.

The available number of hourly-paid workers is involved not only in the maintenance of workstations and equipment but also in the manufacture of finished goods.

The hourly payment system is used for work that is not subject to standardisation and accurate accounting, which does not contradict the Department's order dated 04.10.2004 No. 191, registered with the Ministry of Justice under No. 1328/9924.

Based on the results of 2006, the number of employees with hourly wages decreased by 19% compared to 2005, which led to a decrease in general production costs in the cost of finished goods from 22.5% in 2005 to 19.1% in the first half of 2007.

·   

Regarding compliance by public fund administrators with legislative requirements in the sphere of public procurement

Regarding the state of organisation and provision of medical assistance to convicts and detainees

Mortality from circulatory and respiratory diseases is 44.2% in pre-trial detention centres and 64% in penal institutions.

The state of compliance with constitutional rights of citizens in pre-trial detention centres is a cause for concern, where, despite an overall decrease in the average annual number of persons placed in these institutions, 69 prisoners died within 8 months, with two of these deaths being murders. Almost half of the total number of fatal cases occurred in the Kyiv and Donetsk pre-trial detention centres. In particular, in the Kyiv SIZO alone, 16 people have died in the current year, and 12 in the 12 months of 2006.

The negative development of illnesses among detainees in pre-trial detention centres is facilitated by inadequate organisation of material, living, and medical support, insufficient funding, and the overcrowding of certain pre-trial detention institutions (Donetsk, Kyiv, Simferopol, Kherson SIZOs, and others).

In addition, no appropriate conditions for the detention of mentally ill persons taken into custody have been created in pre-trial detention centres. Proper treatment is not being provided due to the lack of necessary conditions and medical supplies.

The problem of compliance with the requirements of the Law of Ukraine “On Combating Tuberculosis” in SIZOs and temporary detention centres remains urgent. In the current year, over 2,000 persons suffering from tuberculosis were temporarily registered in these institutions, nearly a quarter of whom suffer from its active form. However, only one in two tuberculosis-infected prisoners from among those held in temporary detention centres has undergone inpatient treatment in specialised territorial medical facilities.

Thanks to balanced and consistent work regarding the medical-sanitary support of persons deprived of liberty, it has been possible to reduce the number of deaths in Department institutions by almost 25% over the last 5 years (2003 – 957 deaths; 2006 – 716 deaths). There is also positive momentum in the current year (544 persons died in State Penal Service institutions in the first 9 months of 2007, which is 25 fewer than in the same period of 2006). When compared with similar Ministry of Health indicators, the overall mortality rate in Department institutions is 8 times lower (Department – 1.9, Ministry of Health – 16.2).

The lethality rate in hospital facilities of the State Penal Service for the period 2003–2006 decreased by 21% (2003 – 1.9, 2006 – 1.5).

The incidence rate of tuberculosis in pre-trial detention centres in 2003 was 8,636.30 per 100,000 population, after which the incidence level began to decrease and in 2006 amounted to 3,543.30 per 100,000 population, meaning it decreased by 2.4 times. A similar situation is observed in penal institutions (a reduction in the tuberculosis incidence indicator from 2,782.70 in 2003 to 1,335.91 in 2006) – the incidence decreased by 2 times.

Among the staff of the institutions, a decrease in tuberculosis morbidity is also noted for the specified period by 23%.

The positive dynamics of the specified indicators are the result of a systematic approach, together with other services, to the organisation of medical assistance provision, and the improvement of the treatment-diagnostic process, conditions of detention, and nutrition.

Regarding cooperation with non-governmental organisations

 1. Regarding the state of correspondence with non-governmental organisations ...

 It was not possible to review examples of requests and responses provided by the Department during the inspection – mainly due to a lack of time. Instead, a number of examples of such activity are known from the experience of interaction with some citizens and non-governmental organisations, in particular the “Donetsk Memorial”, the Luhansk branch of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine, and citizen O. Tymchii from Lviv.

During 2005–2007, no complaints were received from non-governmental organisations regarding obstruction of their statutory activities concerning participation in the process of correction and resocialisation of convicts.

During the inspection, comprehensive statistical and analytical information about cooperation with the public and a list of relevant public associations were provided to Mr O.P. Bukalov.