Ukrainian women’s prison

There are 32 preliminary prisons, 131 penitentiary establishments for adults and 8 colonies for minor criminals in Ukraine. The War in Donbass, that started in the spring of 2014, significantly worsened the lives of inmates ukrainian women’s prison the conflict zone.

Convicts in Ukrainian prisons work 7 or 8 hours a day, except for weekends. Prisoners get to keep part of the money raised from the sale of the items they produce. They are limited to four pairs of shoes. According to the US Department of State Human Rights Report 2009, conditions in prisons and detention facilities in Ukraine are harsh, and pretrial detention was seen as arbitrary and lengthy. Over the year 2013 the legislation regulating the administration of penalties has changed more dramatically than over any given historic period in the development of the national incarceration law. The process was so intense that scholars and practicing lawyers, human rights atavists did not have time to analyze the whole body of the law, which definitely will become the focus for future discussions.

The process was obviously related directly to the requirements of the Ukraine-EU Association agenda. The situation was even worse when the Ministry of Justice really introduced changes to the acts passed by the penitentiary department, e. The Regulations adopted without public discussion contain large body of norms aimed, first of all, at facilitating the operation of the PTIC officials, while the rights of the inmates are violated. The Regulations reflect the philosophy of maximum restrictions in the inmates’ access to information, so that no information on a criminal case would reach them. That is why it was severely criticized by the academics, specifically, by the scholars from the V. Stashys criminal research institute, human rights activists and organizations that approached the Ombudsman, the Ministry of Justice, and the Prosecutor’s General office with the open letter demanding its invalidation.

However, not a single entity provided an answer. Currently the draft new Internal Regulations for CF has been prepared, once again without any prior public hearing. CF and the life of its inmates, no one wants to discuss it with public at large. Meanwhile, the criminal prosecution experts are very negative in their assessment of the novelties introduced by this normative act.

It should be also mentioned that the Ombudsman Office managed to organize one meeting to discuss this document together with SPSU leaders. Our specialists prepared their notes and recommendations with respect to the major flaws contained in the Regulations, but their majority was rejected at once without any substantiation or explanation. Thus, according to public consultations List, many normative and legal acts had to be discussed publicly, although, as far as we know, some acts were not even posted at the departmental sites for the discussion. According to the program’s Passport, 6011.

State Budget for 2013, was allocated for the Program implementation. One third of funding should have been used to design and construct penitentiary facilities outside central areas of Lviv, Odessa and Kherson. 01 million UAH, while only 123. The situation looks even more dramatic if one considers the amounts of money allocated for the health care for the persons in custody and improvement of health care services. These issues were the matter of serious concern within the CE institutions and priority tasks for the Ukraine-EU association agenda.

4 of the amount to be spent on modernization of the CF system. The amount of money to be spent on modernization of the CF system and the improvement of the professional training for the individuals condemned to prison terms and restriction of freedom constitutes 730. Ukrainian experts also voice other critical concerns. This Law is rather declarative and progressive in language only, introducing in fact just formal changes. The experts assess the Law as regressive due to its restrictive nature with respect to the human rights. A renowned expert in the criminal execution law V.