OPEN APPEAL

OPEN APPEAL from the staff and veterans of the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine

Emergency at a Ryazan girls' penal colony

A hunger strike began among the inmates following a fight. The cause of the strike was the dismissal of the colony’s warden

Modern Trends in the Development of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners

The group of experts recognised the need to revise certain areas of the Standard Minimum Rules for possible consideration in order to reflect in the Rules the latest scientific developments and best practices in the field of penal institution operations.

Criminal case opened into the murder of a prisoner in a colony near Kyiv

Taras Voytsekhovsky died in a detention centre. The Prosecutor's Office has opened a criminal case in connection with the death of a convict at the Bucha Correctional Colony

Secret video and photo footage from behind bars – can they be trusted?

A round-table discussion with this title took place during Docudays UA on 26 March. The round table began with a viewing of photographs and video clips depicting convicts in prison cells – with signs of beatings, bruises, and cuts.

Labour in places of deprivation of liberty

The Penal Code contains contradictory regulations regarding the labour of convicts. This contradiction in regulations sometimes gives rise to misunderstandings. What questions arise most often for those convicts who have work?

Tuberculosis patients have declared a riot in the Dnipropetrovsk colony

Tuberculosis patients have declared a riot in the Dnipropetrovsk colony

Non-Governmental Organisations and the Penal System

An overview of the 2011 activities of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working within the penal system sector. The report describes the results of the activities of 23 NGOs.

The European Court has ordered Ukraine to pay €5,000 to a Ukrainian citizen for restricting family visits to prison and monitoring his correspondence

The European Court of Human Rights has ordered Ukraine to pay €5,000 in compensation for moral damages caused to 43-year-old Oleh Trosin by the restriction of family visits and the reading of his correspondence in prison.

On the other side of the barbed wire

Human rights defenders note a deterioration in the situation regarding the provision of the elementary rights of prisoners and a limitation of public control over the criminal-executive service – as a result, there is an increase in the frequency of torture and a sharp rise in the mortality rate in prisons

An important court ruling in Russia

The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation has permitted lawyers to bring dictaphones and cameras into correctional facilities

THE PENAL SYSTEM IN 2011: STATISTICS

As of 01/02/2012, in 183 places of detention of the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine, there were 153,430 people (on 01/01/2011 - 154,027 people). Over the year, the number of people in places of detention decreased by 597 people (- 0.39%).