Parliamentary hearings on the observance of human rights in Ukraine. How the penitentiary system was presented

On Wednesday, 12 June 2013, Parliamentary hearings were held in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. The meeting between the public and representatives of public authority was devoted to an overview of the state of human rights observance in Ukraine. The high level of attention to the event was due not only to the topic of the hearings but also to the fact that the last such hearings were held in 2001. By participating, the All-Ukrainian Charitable Organization ‘Network of Organizations Working in the Penitentiary Sphere’ not only presented its own proposals but also drew attention to the speeches of other participants, especially regarding the topic of human rights observance in the penal execution system.
In general, despite the significant number of speakers, which amounted to more than 40 people, the penitentiary theme was heard quite often. Some participants, especially representatives of the Prosecutor General's Office, the Minister of Justice, and individual deputies, only partially touched upon the problems of places of detention. At the same time, government representatives made attempts to focus the attention of those present on achievements and positive trends. In particular, on the significant reduction in the number of prisoners, which is a consequence of the implementation of the provisions of the new Criminal Procedure Code.
At the same time, the achievements outlined by the government officials were overshadowed by the reports of the Ombudsman and human rights activists, who devoted their speeches exclusively to penitentiary issues.
The Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, Valeriya Lutkovska, examined in detail the violations that accompany the process of transporting prisoners and convicts. According to Lutkovska, during transport, such persons are often in clearly inhumane conditions. After all, sometimes
0.5 m² is allocated per person, and the premises where such persons are held lack necessary lighting and fresh air. Moreover, the premises are not sanitised after being occupied by patients with tuberculosis, noted the Ombudsman.
Concluding her speech, Valeriya Lutkovska assured that a report from the national preventive mechanism, which is intended to prevent torture and inhumane treatment in places of detention, would soon be presented in Parliament.
Oleksandr Bukalov, head of the public human rights organisation ‘Donetsk Memorial’, also devoted his speech exclusively to the penitentiary theme. He drew the attention of those present to the need to update criminal-executive legislation, to abolish the practice of introducing nonsensical restrictions, and to use the slave labour of convicts. According to the human rights activist, today it is not uncommon for a convict, having worked 25 shifts, to receive only 21 hryvnias. Furthermore, Oleksandr Bukalov called on the head of the State Penitentiary Service and the Minister of Justice of Ukraine to stop the practice of using anti-terrorist units in correctional institutions. After all, without a regulatory act defining the principles of their functioning, the activity of these units is illegal.
The problems accompanying the process of exercising the medical rights of persons deprived of
liberty were presented in an analytical note by Volodymyr Bocharov-Tuz, a representative of the All-Ukrainian Charitable Organization ‘Network of Organizations Working in the Penitentiary Sphere’. In his material, the civic activist emphasised that it is necessary to ensure the independence of medical staff from the influence of other departments and the penitentiary leadership.
According to Volodymyr, this necessity has already been recognised by the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine. This is evidenced by the introduction of a pilot initiative to re-subordinate medical-sanitary units of a number of penitentiary institutions in several regions directly to the central apparatus of the SPSU. A similar reform was carried out in the Russian Federation. Its effectiveness is questionable.
The positive practice of re-subordination is confirmed by international experience, as many progressive countries have re-subordinated prison medicine away from the jurisdiction of the penitentiary agency. Among such countries are: Norway, France, England, and Wales in the United Kingdom. Such a transition has led to positive trends in the provision of medical care in the criminal-executive system. At the present time, several other countries intend to carry out an analogous transition – Georgia, Spain, and Scotland.
Concluding the address, the representative of the All-Ukrainian Charitable Organization ‘Network of Organizations Working in the Penitentiary Sphere’ drew attention to the fact that the need for a substantial improvement in the system of providing medical care to prisoners and convicts is today beyond doubt.
A clear confirmation of this is that the issue of improving medical care in the penal execution system is also presented in legislative initiatives. Of the 8 bills that were in Parliament at the time of the hearings, at least 2 are devoted to the issue of optimising medical care in the penitentiary sphere.
Such an actualisation of the problems of medical service in the penal execution system speaks to the necessity of conducting systemic reform of this sphere, with the mandatory re-subordination of the medical service of the SPSU to the Ministry of Health, the civic activists concluded.