On 16 June 2020, the online presentation of the Guidelines for the Prevention of Suicidal Behaviour in Ukraine’s Penitentiary Service and the Strategy to Combat Suicide and Self-Harm was organised for the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, its Criminal Executive Directorate and other interested stakeholders.
The 2017 Ukrainian Guidelines and the Strategy for the Prevention of Suicidal Behaviour and Self-Harm were updated in order to improve prevention of the suicides and self-harm, committed within the Ukrainian penitentiary system by convicts and held in custody persons. The Guidelines and Strategy provide methods to ensure a permanent monitoring and a progress in the sphere of suicide and self-harm prevention. Based on the discussion, the participants agreed to implement the main provisions of the Instructions and the Strategy itself in pilot penitentiary institutions, to proceed with training of prison staff on multidisciplinary skills to prevent suicidal behaviour and to provide an expert assistance to MoJ to transport the Instructions into internal regulatory act.
The event was attended by Olena Lytvynenko, Deputy Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine, the management of the Criminal Executive Directorate and its fore interregional departments, Alla Shut, National Consultant of the Council of Europe, Andriy Spivak, Justice Sector Coordinator of the European Union Delegation to Ukraine, the European Union and the Council of Europe project team working together to support prison reform in Ukraine”, the state institutions “Probation in Ukraine” and “Health Protection Centre of the MoJ Criminal Executive Directorate”, Bila Tserkva Penitentiary Staff Training Centre.
Iryna Rudnitska, Senior Inspector of the Department of Resocialization and Social Rehabilitation provided the following statistics: there were registered 50 suicides in penitentiaries (34) and remand prisons in Ukraine (16) in 2019. In 2020 (till June 17), 17 suicides were committed in correctional colonies and remand prisons (21 in the same period last year).
The activity was conducted in the framework of the Joint Project "European Union and Council of Europe working together to support prison reform in Ukraine" - SPERU”, which is designed to promote human rights compliant management of prisons, including better alignment of prison healthcare provisions with European standards
More information can be found in Ukrainian version.
