Kryukiv Correctional Colony (No. 29)

The state institution “Kryukiv Correctional Colony (No. 29)” is a minimum-security institution with low-security conditions for men sentenced to imprisonment. The institution is located in the village of Bozhkivske, Poltava District, Poltava Region, and is part of the structure of the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine.

The colony was created on 1 March 1976 in accordance with the order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Ukrainian SSR as a settlement colony for persons convicted of crimes committed through negligence. The basis for its creation was the agricultural plots of another penal institution, which included significant land holdings, livestock complexes, agricultural machinery, and production infrastructure. From the very beginning, the institution’s activities were closely linked to agricultural production and the involvement of convicts in labour.

The first years of the colony’s operation were dedicated to creating the necessary infrastructure. During 1976–1980, dormitories for convicts, administrative and utility buildings, a duty unit, engineering structures, and fencing for the residential area were built. Subsequently, the material and technical base of the institution was gradually expanded and modernised in accordance with the needs of the criminal-executive system. In 1998, after the formation of the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Punishments, the institution became part of the new management system. In 1999, it was repurposed into a settlement colony for persons who had embarked on the path of correction, and was later assigned its modern name — the state institution “Kryukiv Correctional Colony (No. 29)”.

After the entry into force of the Criminal-Executive Code of Ukraine, the colony received the status of a minimum-security institution with low-security conditions. Since 2006, the institution has also operated a minimum-security sector for men convicted for the first time for criminal offences committed through negligence. A feature of the institution is its agricultural profile.

Traditionally, one of the main areas of the colony’s activity remains the involvement of convicts in agricultural work, which is combined with vocational training, the organisation of paid labour, and social-educational work. At the same time, the realisation of the right to work must be carried out in accordance with the requirements of national legislation, international standards, and with proper social protection for working convicts.

With the beginning of the full-scale armed aggression of the Russian Federation, the institution’s activities, like those of the entire penitentiary system of Ukraine, are carried out under martial law. This has made the issues of ensuring the convicts’ right to life, medical care, the maintenance of social ties, proper material and living conditions, and effective civil protection in places of detention more relevant. The Kryukiv Correctional Colony is regularly under the attention of state and public control bodies.

Over the years, it has been visited by representatives of the National Preventive Mechanism, the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, and independent human rights organisations. During monitoring visits, the conditions of detention of convicts, the realisation of the right to work, access to medical care, the level of material and living provision, the application of disciplinary practice, compliance with the right to privacy, and other fundamental human rights are evaluated.

The results of such visits contribute to the identification of systemic problems, the preparation of recommendations, and the improvement of the institution’s functional practice.

Contact information: State institution “Kryukiv Correctional Colony (No. 29)”, 38734, Poltava Region, Poltava District, v. Bozhkivske, Myru St., 4

Head of the institution: LISNIAK Oleksandr Pavlovych Telephone: +38 (050) 641-16-52