Department Board Meeting Held

28 October 2009

PRESS RELEASE
The regular meeting of the Board of the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Sentences took place on 26–27 October 2009. The following issues were brought to the agenda:

1. On the results of the activities of the bodies and institutions of the State Penal Service of Ukraine for 9 months of 2009 and measures for its improvement.
2. On the state of readiness of the institutions of the State Penal Service of Ukraine for work in the autumn-winter period of 2009–2010.

The meeting was held in an expanded format with the participation of the management staff of the Department’s central office, heads of the Department’s territorial management bodies, heads of penal institutions and pre-trial detention centres, and heads of educational institutions. This is due to the importance of the tasks facing the State Penal Service of Ukraine at the current stage.

The Board meeting was also attended by Deputy Head of the Department for the Activities of Justice Bodies and Law Enforcement Agencies Tetiana Viktorova; Head of the Department for Supervision of Compliance with Laws in the Execution of Judicial Decisions in Criminal Cases and Other Coercive Measures Valentyn Nedilko; Head of the Department for Ensuring Interaction with the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Sentences of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine Petro Kocherhan.

Opening the Board meeting, the Chairman of the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Sentences, Major General of the Internal Service Oleksandr Halinskyi, noted that the strategic development of the penitentiary system is the replacement of the philosophy or even the ideology of the execution of sentences. “The main principle of change should be a social partnership between prisoners and staff, aimed at creating a humane social environment in penal institutions that would ensure the necessary balance of interests between the observance of the conditions for serving sentences determined by legislation and the satisfaction of the social needs of each of the parties. And it is precisely on the results of the work of the managers that the assessment given to the activities of the State Penal Service by civil society institutions depends,” emphasised Oleksandr Halinskyi.

Co-reports on the results of the activities of the bodies and institutions of the State Penal Service of Ukraine for 9 months of 2009 and measures for its improvement were presented by the First Deputy Chairman of the Department, Lieutenant General of the Internal Service Mykola Iltyai, First Deputy Chairman of the Department Yevhen Serhiyenko, and Deputy Chairmen of the Department Anatoliy Vysochanskyi and Vitaliy Motsak.

An important place in the work of the Board was given to issues of preparing the institutions of the State Penal Service of Ukraine for work in the autumn-winter period of 2009–2010. The report of the First Deputy Chairman of the Department, Mykola Iltyai, was heard. Work should be organised reasonably and strictly controlled, avoiding previous mistakes and miscalculations. The main thing is to provide heat, food, and medical services for the prisoners.

On both the first and second agenda items, reports were reviewed from the heads of penal bodies and institutions that have low performance indicators.

The Chairman of the Department, Oleksandr Halinskyi, noted that the main emphasis should be placed on those problems and shortcomings in the work that need to be overcome and eliminated first and foremost.

During the Board meeting, a principled assessment of the activities of the State Penal Service of Ukraine was given, and priority measures for its improvement were defined.