Poltava Institution for the Execution of Sentences (No. 23)

The State Institution “Poltava Institution for the Execution of Sentences (No. 23)” is a pre-trial detention centre that is part of the structure of the State Penal Service of Ukraine and ensures the detention of persons taken into custody, and also performs the functions of a penal institution regarding certain categories of convicts in accordance with the requirements of the criminal procedural and penal legislation of Ukraine.

The history of the penal institution in Poltava spans over two centuries. Archival documents indicate that a provincial prison, known as the Poltava Prison Castle, functioned as early as the beginning of the 19th century. In the second half of the 19th century, the Poltava correctional arrest ward operated in the city, which became one of the first specialised penal facilities in the region.

In 1871, a church in honour of the Holy Blessed Prince Alexander Nevsky was consecrated at the institution, which became an important component of spiritual care for the prisoners. At the beginning of the 20th century, the institution was moved to a new complex of buildings, and after the Second World War, two separate prisons functioned on the territory of the modern pre-trial detention centre, one of which was used for the detention of persons accused of state crimes.

It was on the basis of this complex that the modern Poltava Pre-trial Detention Centre was subsequently formed. Throughout the second half of the 20th century, the institution’s material and technical base was constantly developed. In 1964, training and production workshops were commissioned, in 1982 a new high-security building and exercise yards were built, in 1986 an administrative building, and in 1993 construction of the third floor of high-security building No. 3 was completed.

This allowed for a significant expansion of the institution’s capabilities in ensuring conditions for the detention of persons taken into custody.

Today, the institution’s complex includes three high-security buildings, administrative buildings, a medical block, premises for conducting investigative actions, training and production workshops, a kitchen, rooms for short-term and long-term visits, economic facilities, a boiler house, a vegetable storage facility, garages, and other necessary infrastructure.

The institution also operates a section for convicts left to perform economic maintenance work.

After the proclamation of Ukraine’s independence, the institution joined the structure of the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Punishments, and subsequently, the State Penal Service of Ukraine and the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.

Today, it performs the functions of a pre-trial detention centre, ensuring the detention of persons taken into custody, compliance with the regime, medical provision, the realisation of the right to defence, and the execution of court decisions.

With the onset of the full-scale armed aggression by the Russian Federation, the Poltava region became one of the important logistical centres of Ukraine, which led to an additional burden on the regional penal system.

Despite regular air raid alerts and the threat of missile strikes, the institution continues to perform its functions without interruption, ensuring conditions for the detention of persons in custody and the safety of personnel. In recent years, the institution has undergone scheduled monitoring visits by the National Preventive Mechanism and human rights organisations, during which a comprehensive assessment of conditions for the detention of prisoners, the organisation of medical provision, the functioning of production workshops, compliance with the rights of persons left for economic maintenance, and the compliance of the institution’s activities with international standards for the treatment of persons deprived of liberty were conducted.

Contact information State Institution “Poltava Institution for the Execution of Sentences (No. 23)”, 91 Yuliana Matviichuka St, Poltava, Poltava region, 36014

Head of the institution: Oleksii Ivanovych DOMASHOV

Telephone: (0532) 60-81-07 E-mail: [email protected]