31 October 2023, an expert meeting on the implementation of penitentiary reform in Ukraine in accordance with the standards of the Council of Europe was held in Kyiv. The participants discussed the state of implementation of Strategy for the penitentiary system reform until 2026, as well as the implementation of the decisions of the ECtHR related to the prison system of Ukraine.
The event was held with the support of the Joint Project “European Union and Council of Europe working together to support the Prison Reform in Ukraine Plus” (SPERU+ Project) in cooperation with State Department of Execution of Criminal Sanctions of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.
“The Council of Europe supported and will continue to support the aspirations of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine regarding the implementation of modern penitentiary reform in Ukraine. Within the framework of the Action Plan of the Council of Europe for Ukraine "Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction", the Council of Europe is ready to provide assistance to the authorities in the development of modern penitentiary institutions and probation systems with an emphasis on the transition from punitive to rehabilitative approaches in the conditions of war and in the period of post-war reconstruction,” stressed Erlend Falch, Deputy Head, Council of Europe Office in Ukraine.
Olena Vysotska and Oleksandr Banchuk, Deputy Ministers of Justice of Ukraine, as well as Sergii Hrechanuik, Head of State Department of Execution of Criminal Sanctions of Ukraine, assured in their speeches of their readiness to continue work on a large-scale reform aimed at transforming the penitentiary system in accordance with international standards. In addition, the government officials thanked the SPERU+ Project for expert assistance and the creation of a platform for communication and finding the right solutions for strengthening human rights in penitentiary institutions and re-socialisation of inmates while serving their sentences.
Olena Vysotska presented the progress in penitentiary reform for 9 months of 2023. Among the successes are the gradual improvement of detention conditions in penitentiary institutions, the implementation of measures to apply alternative forms of punishment, in particular probation, the use of tools for the resocialisation of convicts, raising capacities of penitentiary workers, etc.
Oleksandr Banchuk presented draft laws designed to speed up penitentiary reform. The draft laws, inter alia, concern the operation, financing and supervision of the penitentiary system; appointment of community service not only as the main, but also as an additional type of punishment; improvement of the legal basis of labour relations of convicts with business entities.
However, despite the steps taken to implement penitentiary reform, the penitentiary system of Ukraine still has longstanding challenges and weaknesses. In particular: obsolete prison infrastructure and buildings; underfinanced services; lack of prison staff retention strategies; cases of ill-treatment of prisoners; not enough level of multidisciplinary skills of prison officers to identify the early warning signals of mental or healthcare-related problems of prisoners; poor level of health care available in prisons; lack of rehabilitation programmes and individual approach to execution of prison sentences; lack of purposeful activities for the inmates.
Pavlo Pushkar, Head of Division, Department of Execution of ECtHR Judgments, and Mykola Gnatovskyi, Judge of ECtHR, presented general measures under ECtHR judgments Nevmerzhytskyi v. Ukraine and Davydov v. Ukraine, in light of the Penitentiary Strategy and the Action Plan. In particular related to establishment of Convention-compliant preventive and compensatory remedies, increasing the minimum standard.
Margaryta Sokorenko, State Agent before the European Court on Human Rights, spoke about the state of play with the implementation of general measures under ECtHR judgments Nevmerzhytskyi v. Ukraine and Davydov v. Ukraine. Impact of the current situation.
“We stand ready to support the Ukrainian partners beyond the end of this year in overcoming the structural problems in the penitentiary system, assisting in the development of the second Action Plan, implementing the Penitentiary Strategy till 2026, under a potentially new follow-up project, with aim to jointly accomplish the objectives set under the Council of Europe Action Plan ‘Resilience, recovery and reconstruction’,” said Donche Boshkovski, Head of Unit, Co-operation in Police and Deprivation of Liberty.
Additional information:
“European Union and Council of Europe working together to support the Prison Reform in Ukraine Plus” (SPERU+ Project) is the fourth component of the Joint Project of the European Union and the Council of Europe “European Union and Council of Europe working together to strengthening human rights in Ukraine” which is co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe.
SPERU+ Project is fully in line with the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine “Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction” 2023-2026. Particularly, the Project will address the objective of ‘continued support to the authorities in building modern prison and probation systems with a focus on shifting from punitive to rehabilitative approaches in the context of war and post-war recovery period’.
SPERU+ Project builds on the results achieved within the EU and the Council of Europe Joint Project “Support the Prison Reform in Ukraine” (JP SPERU) as well as on the strategic goals and reform plans adopted by the Government of Ukraine in the Strategy for Penitentiary Reform 2021-2026 towards “creation of a humane system of execution of criminal sanctions, that will guarantee the safety in the society and ensure social adaptation of inmates”.
