Romny Correctional Colony (No. 56)
The State Institution “Romny Correctional Colony (No. 56)” is a maximum-security institution for the detention of men sentenced to imprisonment for a specific term, as well as to life imprisonment.
The institution is located in the village of Perekhrestivka in the Romny District of the Sumy region and is part of the structure of the State Penal Service of Ukraine.
The Romny Correctional Colony is one of the few institutions in Ukraine designated for the detention of convicts serving life sentences, which defines its special place in the system of executing criminal sentences.
The history of the institution began on 4 November 1961, when a corrective labour colony was established by order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Ukrainian SSR. For its placement, the territory of a former local distillery was used, the production and economic premises of which were repurposed for the needs of the newly created institution.
The first years of the colony’s operation were associated with large-scale construction. Due to the fact that the existing buildings were not sufficiently adapted for the functioning of a penal institution, the administration began the comprehensive creation of residential, production, and communal-domestic infrastructure.
Over the course of almost a quarter of a century, dormitories for convicts, production buildings, administrative buildings, communal facilities, engineering networks, residential houses for personnel, and other necessary structures were erected. In the 1960s–1980s, the colony gradually turned into one of the largest penal complexes in the Sumy region. An artesian well, a pumping station, a fire reservoir, a bathhouse-laundry complex, a canteen, warehouses, production workshops, a compressor station, a water tower, sewage treatment plants, checkpoints, and other infrastructure facilities were built.
In the process of reforming the penal system, the institution’s regime also changed. Subsequently, the colony was repurposed from general to special regime, and by order of the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Punishments dated 15 December 1999, it received its modern name — the State Institution “Romny Correctional Colony (No. 56)”. From 1 January 2004, the institution was officially granted the status of a maximum-security colony. In the same year, a specialised maximum-security sector for the detention of men sentenced to life imprisonment was commissioned.
Since then, the Romny Correctional Colony has become one of the key institutions in Ukraine for the execution of sentences regarding this category of convicts.
After the proclamation of Ukraine’s independence, the institution joined the structure of the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Punishments, and subsequently, the State Penal Service of Ukraine and the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.
Over the years, significant attention has been paid to the modernisation of engineering infrastructure, the improvement of conditions of detention for convicts, the development of production, professional training, and social and educational work. Following the onset of the full-scale armed aggression by the Russian Federation, the Sumy region has been regularly subjected to missile and drone attacks.
Despite the difficult security situation, the Romny Correctional Colony continues to perform the functions assigned to it by the state, ensuring regime measures, medical provision, the organisation of labour, and the observance of the rights of convicts, including persons sentenced to life imprisonment.
In recent years, the institution has undergone scheduled monitoring visits by the National Preventive Mechanism and human rights organisations, during which comprehensive assessments of the conditions of detention for convicts, the functioning of the maximum-security sector, the state of medical provision, the organisation of labour, social and educational work, and the compliance of the institution’s activities with international standards for the treatment of persons deprived of liberty were conducted.
Contact information State Institution “Romny Correctional Colony (No. 56)”, 19 Vyshneva St, village of Perekhrestivka, Romny District, Sumy region, 42073
Head of the institution: Artem Mykolaiovych SVERDEL
Telephone: (05448) 9-25-88 E-mail: [email protected]