Two more convicts have inflicted incised wounds upon themselves in Penal Colony No. 81

This is stated in a report by the head of the Vinnytsia Human Rights Group, Dmytro HROISMAN.

Open Letter to the Country's Leaders

Distinguished Viktor Andriyovych, Yuliya Volodymyrivna, and Arseniy Petrovych! 22 February 2008, we appealed to you with an open letter in which we drew your attention to numerous human rights violations in the activities of the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Sentences. For nearly four months, we have received no clear response from you regarding the issues raised, nor do we know your position on the facts and warnings expressed in our open letter.

Human rights activists criticise the situation in Ukrainian prisons

Representatives of the All-Ukrainian Association of Convicts’ Relatives and the international human rights organisation ‘European Movement’ have criticised the conditions of detention for prisoners in Ukrainian pre-trial detention centres and prisons.

Verkhovna Rada recommended to legalise the right of prisoners to confidential correspondence with their lawyer.

The Committee on Legislative Support of Law Enforcement recommends that the Verkhovna Rada adopt as a basis the draft law on amending certain legislative acts of Ukraine regarding ensuring the right of persons held in custody and convicted persons to unhindered correspondence with a lawyer.

The state of education for convicts in the Lviv region

For convicts to obtain a full general secondary education, 8 general educational institutions are operating in correctional colonies of the Lviv region, in which 848 convicts were enrolled at the beginning of the 2007/2008 academic year.

Report on Vocational Training for Convicts in the Lviv Region for 2007.

One of the most important conditions for the social adaptation of convicts after their release is having an education.

Are beatings in colonies continuing?

Unconfirmed reports Special forces have been brought into Dnipropetrovsk Colony No. 89, where they brutally beat the convicts.

ANOTHER PRISONER HAS HANGED HIMSELF IN THE STRYZHAVKA COLONY. THIS IS THE SECOND CASE IN A WEEK

– Two suicides are not just an “incident,” but two tragedies, – comments Serhiy Kalinchuk, Deputy Head of the Department for the Execution of Sentences, to our correspondent. – An official investigation into the facts of the suicides is underway.

The Shrouded "Openness", or How the Head of the Prison Department, Koshchynets, Lost in Court

The Administrative Court of Donetsk Region has ruled that the failure of the Head of the State Department for the Execution of Sentences, V.V. Koshchynets, to provide information regarding mortality rates in the system's institutions—requested by the non-governmental organisation "Donetsk Memorial"—within the legally prescribed timeframe was unlawful. The system is indeed becoming open, but only through the courts.

Human rights activists found no traces of mass beatings of prisoners in Temnivska Correctional Colony No. 100

This was reported by the chairman of the board of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, Arkadii Bushchenko.

Children’s Day in the women’s colony

At the beginning of June, at the initiative of the charitable organisation ‘Chernihiv Women’s Human Rights Centre’, events dedicated to International Children’s Day took place in Chernihiv Correctional Colony No. 44.

Suicides and torture have become a common occurrence in Ukrainian prisons. VHRG statement.

Over the last ten days in Ukraine, four convicts have taken their own lives.