DECREE OF THE PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE

DECREE OF THE PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE No. 401/2008

On the Concept of Reforming the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine
With the aim of ensuring the implementation of state policy in the sphere of criminal punishment and the further reform of the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine, I hereby decree:
1. To approve the Concept of Reforming the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine (attached).
2. The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine shall develop and approve a Comprehensive Targeted Program for the Reform of the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine within a three-month period.
President of Ukraine Viktor YUSHCHENKO
25 April 2008

APPROVED
by the Decree of the President of Ukraine
dated 25 April 2008 No. 401/2008

CONCEPT
of reforming the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine

The democratic transformations that have taken place in Ukraine have necessitated the reform of the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine (hereinafter—the penitentiary service) and bringing it into compliance with international standards.
The functioning of the penitentiary service must be based on adherence to the provisions of the Constitution and laws of Ukraine, the foundations of international law and European ethics, and the principles of non-partisanship, political neutrality, and openness for cooperation with national and international public organizations and institutions.
Among the positive changes that have occurred over recent years in the sphere of criminal punishment are a one-third reduction in the number of persons serving sentences in places of deprivation of liberty, greater openness in the activities of the penitentiary service, and a qualitatively new level of interaction between penal institutions and human rights organizations.
At the same time, existing penal institutions and pre-trial detention centers in Ukraine do not meet modern requirements for ensuring the rights and freedoms of individuals and citizens, and they do not fully ensure the fulfillment of the tasks assigned to them.
The premises in which convicts are held are of a barrack type, with several dozen people in each. The conditions in pre-trial detention centers are no better. Most of the buildings, structures, and engineering networks of penal institutions and pre-trial detention centers were built and commissioned more than 50 years ago and require immediate reconstruction or major repairs. It is not possible to involve all convicts in labor, and the necessary equipment in vocational training institutions attached to penal institutions, or at the enterprises of said institutions, is either missing or obsolete.
There is an urgent need to develop new models of penal institutions for convicted women and minors.
In penal institutions, a significant number of convicts have a low level of education and are pedagogically neglected. Modern approaches to the organization of production activities under market conditions necessitate changes in the organizational-legal forms and principles of the activities of penal institution enterprises regarding the engagement of convicts in socially useful work, prioritizing their vocational training, and forming and consolidating work skills in convicts as an integral component of their resocialization process.
Despite the significant number of convicts suffering from somatic and mental illnesses, and the spread of infectious diseases among them, primarily tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, problems remain with providing such persons with adequate medical assistance.
The practice of improper treatment of persons in custody and those serving sentences in penal institutions by penitentiary service personnel has not been eradicated, and the investigation of complaints regarding such treatment is insufficiently effective.
The work of the penitentiary inspection requires improvement; it currently registers almost half of all convicts, and its role will grow in connection with the expansion of types of punishment not involving deprivation of liberty. Such improvement must take place along the lines of probation services created in many European states.
Therefore, ensuring real possibilities for protecting the interests of the individual, society, and the state by creating conditions for the correction and resocialization of convicts, preventing the commission of new crimes by persons taken into custody or those serving sentences, as well as preventing torture and inhuman or degrading treatment of persons held in penal institutions, the gradual approximation of conditions for persons in custody and those serving sentences to European standards, and improving the work with penitentiary service personnel and their professional training are the main priority directions of state policy in this sphere.
1. General tasks of reforming the penitentiary service
This Concept defines the main directions for reforming the penitentiary service, which should ensure the order and conditions for the execution of sentences and serving of sentences by convicts in penal institutions and pre-trial detention centers as defined by legislation, and introduce European standards in this sphere through adherence to the requirements of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (1950) and the implementation of recommendations of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
The goal of reforming the penitentiary service should be the organization of the penitentiary inspection’s activities on the basis of probation, the further improvement of the activities of penal institutions by creating conditions for the correction and resocialization of convicts, their acquisition of education and a profession, their social adaptation in society, and bringing the conditions for persons in custody and those serving sentences into compliance with the requirements of the European Prison Rules.
Reforming the penitentiary service requires a significant revision of state policy in the sphere of criminal punishment in accordance with the new socio-political and economic situation in the state, changes in the practice of sentencing by courts, and global experience in the execution of criminal punishments; it must be carried out in a coordinated manner, in conjunction with the reform of other state and social institutions, in particular, the acceleration of judicial reform.
For this, in the course of reforming the penitentiary service, it is necessary to take into account that:
the introduction of new means of correction and resocialization of convicts must be carried out primarily with respect for the rights and freedoms of the individual and citizen, preventing the humiliation of the honor and dignity of the person;
the resocialization of convicts is the main ultimate goal of the functioning of the penitentiary service;
the correction and resocialization of convicts are as mandatory tasks in the implementation of punishment as the penalty for the committed crime;
engaging convicts in labor, working in workshops (labor adaptation centers), auxiliary farms, household maintenance of penal institutions and pre-trial detention centers, at enterprises of penal institutions, or at state or other forms of ownership enterprises is a component not of the punishment, but of resocialization;
education in a general or vocational training institution and participation in amateur and self-governing organizations of convicts, which are created in accordance with legislation in penal institutions and function on a collective basis, are an integral component of the resocialization of convicts.
To achieve the stated goals, it is necessary to:
optimize the structure of the penitentiary service and the management system of penal bodies and institutions and pre-trial detention centers, develop a model that corresponds to international standards, and ensure the phased alignment of the conditions for persons in custody and those serving sentences in existing penal institutions and pre-trial detention centers with such standards;
reorganize the system of execution of punishments not involving deprivation of liberty and organize the activity of the penitentiary inspection on the basis of probation;
improve the forms of interaction between penal bodies and institutions and pre-trial detention centers with public organizations and state institutions in order to adhere to the principle of openness for democratic civil control over the law enforcement agencies of the state;
improve the mechanism of legal regulation of the penitentiary service’s activities;
create a system for the training, retraining, and professional development of penitentiary service personnel;
ensure a system of legal and social protection for penitentiary service personnel;
ensure the development of the material and technical base of penal institutions and pre-trial detention centers.
The organization of interaction between the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Punishments, as the central executive body for the execution of punishments with a special status, and the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights requires improvement.
2. Main measures for reforming the penitentiary service
Reforming the penitentiary service and the management system of penal bodies and institutions and pre-trial detention centers must provide for:
the improvement of the organizational structure of the penitentiary service, which would ensure adherence to constitutional human rights and freedoms, effective mechanisms for public oversight, the creation of proper material and sanitary conditions for detention and serving sentences, and the provision of effective medical assistance to persons in custody and those serving sentences;
the functioning of penal bodies and institutions and pre-trial detention centers on the principles of legality, democracy, objectivity, transparency, systematicity, and decentralization in specific areas, while maintaining a vertical management structure to ensure the implementation of state policy in the sphere of criminal punishment;
the development of a modern model for the organization of socio-educational and psychological work with convicts and the optimization of the structure and staffing of the socio-psychological service, and the improvement of the practice of providing psychological assistance to persons in custody and those serving sentences;
the development and introduction of an effective mechanism for investigating complaints from persons in custody or those serving sentences in penal institutions regarding improper treatment by penitentiary service personnel;
the further development of a network of educational institutions as mandatory and integral components of penal institutions, the strengthening of their material and technical base, and the creation of proper conditions for the general and vocational education of convicts, as well as for the implementation of their socially useful employment and participation in self-governing organizations.
To increase the efficiency of the penitentiary service management system, its functioning at all levels must be based on the principles of accountability, transparency, predictability, and interaction between central and local executive bodies, local self-government bodies, and the public.
Within the framework of improving the penitentiary service, it is necessary to create a secure, unified automated information-analytical system for the service in accordance with ratified international documents regarding the protection of personal data.
With the aim of preventing torture in penal institutions and pre-trial detention centers, it is necessary to:
ensure compliance with the requirements of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment;
ensure the full implementation, in accordance with the requirements of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe and the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights in cases against Ukraine, of the provisions of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (1950) regarding the prohibition of torture;
strengthen public oversight of the observance of the rights of persons in custody and those serving sentences during the execution of criminal punishments.
The organization of the activity of the penitentiary inspection on the basis of probation provides for:
the strengthening of the material and technical base of the penitentiary inspection and the provision of proper conditions for the placement and safety of its personnel;
the development of forms and methods for involving volunteer and other public organizations in the process of social support for persons serving sentences not involving deprivation of liberty;
the development of a new model of the penitentiary inspection and the corresponding legislative framework, taking into account European standards for the organization of probation services.
To ensure the openness of the penitentiary service's activities for democratic civil control, it is necessary to:
maintain dialogue-based relations with the public and improve cooperation with it;
expand and strengthen ties with the media regarding the comprehensive coverage of the penitentiary service's activities with the goal of forming an objective public opinion about state policy in the sphere of criminal punishment.
The improvement of the mechanism of legal regulation of the penitentiary service's activities must take place through:
bringing the regulatory framework regarding the activities of penal bodies and institutions and pre-trial detention centers into compliance with national legislation, the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (1950), the practice of the European Court of Human Rights, and the European Prison Rules;
improving the interaction of the penitentiary service with central and local executive bodies, law enforcement agencies, local self-government bodies, and public organizations;
the preparation and submission of proposals regarding the improvement of financial and material-technical support for penal bodies and institutions and pre-trial detention centers, and the economic stimulation of convict labor.
For the improvement of the system of training penitentiary service personnel and raising the level of their social protection, as well as the scientific and scientific-methodological support for the activities of penal bodies and institutions and pre-trial detention centers, it is necessary to:
create a higher education institution for the training, retraining, and professional development of penitentiary service personnel;
create a network of medical and health institutions for medical service, rehabilitation, and restorative treatment of penitentiary service personnel, members of their families, and persons discharged from service in the penitentiary service;
ensure the necessary social and legal protection guarantees for penitentiary service personnel and develop a mechanism to provide them with housing.
For the development of the material and technical base of penal institutions and pre-trial detention centers, it is necessary to provide for:
the construction of new and the reconstruction of existing pre-trial detention centers;
the technical re-equipment and reconstruction of penal institutions, aimed at ensuring proper conditions for holding all categories of convicts, including persons sentenced to life imprisonment, with the aim of moving from barrack-style to block-style holding of 4–6 persons;
the equipping of penal bodies and institutions and pre-trial detention centers with modern telecommunications and computer systems;
ensuring the phased alignment of the level of medical assistance and the medical equipment of healthcare institutions of the penitentiary service with the standards of the penitentiary systems of European states;
the creation of conditions for the engagement of convicts in socially useful work in workshops (labor adaptation centers), auxiliary farms, household maintenance of penal institutions and pre-trial detention centers, at enterprises of penal institutions, or at state or other forms of ownership enterprises.
3. Stages of implementation of the Concept of reforming the State
Penitentiary Service of Ukraine
The implementation of the Concept of reforming the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine will take place in stages over ten years.
At the first stage (2008–2012), measures will be carried out regarding:
the creation of a regulatory and legal framework that would comply with international standards and ensure the full fulfillment of all functions assigned to the penitentiary service;
the creation of legislative and organizational prerequisites for the further reduction of the number of persons held in penal institutions and pre-trial detention centers;
the study and implementation of the positive experience of European states in the sphere of criminal punishment (creation of new models of penal institutions and conditions for the activity of the probation service);
the creation of appropriate higher education institutions and a research center, and the training of personnel capable of performing their duties at this stage of the penitentiary service's development;
the optimization of the management system for the penitentiary service's activities.
At the second stage (2013–2017), the main measures will be implemented regarding:
the reorganization of penal bodies and institutions and pre-trial detention centers into modern-type institutions that would meet European standards;
ensuring the sustainable functioning of the probation service.
4. Financial support
The financing of measures related to the implementation of the Concept of reforming the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine will be carried out at the expense of funds from the State Budget of Ukraine according to calculations submitted annually by the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Punishments, as well as investments from international organizations and other income not prohibited by legislation.
5. Expected results
The implementation of the provisions of the Concept of reforming the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine should ensure:
the effective implementation of state policy in the sphere of criminal punishment;
the creation of a modern penitentiary service that would meet European standards, primarily in the sphere of human rights observance;
the creation of a probation service as a component of the penitentiary service;
the effective resocialization of convicts, and a reduction in recidivism and the number of crimes and other offenses;
the strengthening of the human resource potential of the penitentiary service and effective countermeasures against corruption and other illegal manifestations among the service's personnel;
the improvement of the penitentiary service's interaction with law enforcement agencies, other state authorities and local self-government bodies, the penitentiary services of other states, and international organizations;
the formation of an appropriate understanding among the public regarding the importance of the penitentiary service's activities.
The execution of this Concept will contribute to the establishment of European human rights standards in the penitentiary system and the realization of Ukraine's strategic course toward integration into the European Union.
Head of the Secretariat of the President of Ukraine V. BALOHA