CHERNIHIV CITY MONITORING COMMISSION HOLDS ITS MEETINGS IN THE PENAL INSTITUTION

The reform of the penal system of Ukraine requires an increase in the role of civil society institutions in monitoring compliance with the rights and freedoms of inmates, facilitating the system of adaptation after release, conducting educational measures, as well as strengthening law and order in places of detention and preventing inmates from committing new crimes.
In accordance with current legislation, this role has been assigned to monitoring commissions.
One of the important conditions for achieving these goals is the level of professionalism of the members of the monitoring commissions, their desire to work on exercising public control over the observance of human rights and freedoms in places of detention, and the level of professional training of members of public organisations who have joined the monitoring commissions.
With the active assistance of the charitable organisation “Chernihiv Women's Human Rights Centre”, a functional city monitoring commission has been formed in Chernihiv, consisting of concerned people who have sufficient life experience, possess the necessary knowledge of penal legal relations, and have a desire to work for the public good.
At one of the monitoring commission meetings, it was decided that its sessions would be held directly in the penal colony where repeatedly convicted women are held. Every third Thursday of the month at 14:00, commission meetings are held in the colony's psychological rehabilitation room. For the first 1.5–2 hours, the commission reviews the colony administration's submissions to the court regarding the application of parole or the replacement of the unserved part of a sentence with a more lenient one. The inmate's presence at the commission meeting is mandatory.
During the next 1.5–2 hours, commission members hold appointments for inmates on personal matters in specific areas: healthcare, education, and legal assistance provided by commission members who are specialists in these fields.
Furthermore, inmates have the opportunity to contact the commission chair, deputy chair, or commission members confidentially. The management of the Chernihiv Penal Colony No. 44 has treated this form of work by the monitoring commission with understanding, as it is educational in nature, contributes to the strengthening of discipline and law and order in the institution, mobilises staff to properly perform their official duties, and allows the public to react in a timely manner to violations of the rights and legal interests of inmates.
To our great regret, apart from our charitable organisation, the Chernihiv Public Committee for Human Rights, and the International Charitable Foundation “Mercy and Kindness”, no one else has sent a submission for the inclusion of their representatives in the Chernihiv City Monitoring Commission, despite our appeals to city public organisations to delegate their representatives to work on it.
Statements by public organisations about their concern for the observance of inmates' rights are very often declarative in nature. It is much easier to criticise the system (although the penal system deserves it), but it is necessary to systematically and professionally facilitate the reform of this system, not to merely state the consequences of the shameful phenomena that have recently been occurring in penal bodies and institutions, but to identify the causes and facilitate their elimination.