Ministry of Justice identifies 5 main problems of the penitentiary system

At least five problems in the activities of the criminal-executive service require priority and persistent efforts on the part of the state to resolve them. This was stated on 26 February by Minister of Justice Mykola Onishchuk, speaking at an expanded meeting of the board of the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Sentences.

Thus, according to the Minister of Justice, despite significant efforts made by the Ministry of Justice and the Department for the Execution of Sentences to improve the activities of the criminal-executive service, there are cases of violations of convicts' rights by representatives of penal institution administrations, and rudeness on the part of staff, as evidenced by complaints from convicts and their relatives.

Furthermore, the Minister of Justice emphasised that cases of corruption among the staff of the criminal-executive service cannot but cause concern.

The Minister of Justice named another problem in the activities of the criminal-executive service: the lack of effective medical assistance for convicts, in particular for those suffering from active tuberculosis.

There is an insufficient number of jobs for the employment of convicts. Only 40% of able-bodied individuals are provided with work, which is the reason for the convicts' inability to reimburse the cost of their maintenance and pay debts according to writs of execution. During the past year, the Minister of Justice reported, only 6 million UAH was withheld according to writs of execution, or almost 1% of the total debt amount. In total, this debt amounts to about half a billion hryvnias (475 million UAH).

In addition, in the Minister's opinion, society is concerned by emergency events that occur in penal institutions and pre-trial detention centres: escapes from custody, suicides, conflict situations, etc.

The Minister of Justice informed the participants of the expanded board meeting about the measures that were taken by the Ministry of Justice together with the Department over the past year. In the first place, they concerned both the legislative provision for bringing conditions of serving sentences into compliance with international standards and social issues related to staff service.

The Minister reported that recently the Verkhovna Rada has adopted four laws, nine resolutions, and orders of the Cabinet of Ministers aimed at reforming and improving the activities of the criminal-executive service.

With the aim of humanising pre-trial detention, Ministry of Justice specialists have developed a corresponding draft law that optimises terms of pre-trial detention and expands the list of preventive measures (confiscation of foreign passports, house arrest, electronic monitoring).

The Minister also recalled that in January of this year, the Government adopted a decision on the creation of an interdepartmental working group on measures to relocate penal institutions and pre-trial detention centres outside of central city areas.

“Significant work is being carried out by both Ministry of Justice specialists and the Department for the Execution of Sentences to eliminate shortcomings. I hope that we will remain like-minded in achieving these tasks in the future,” the Minister noted.