Sumy Pre-trial Detention Centre
The State Institution “Sumy Pre-trial Detention Centre” is the only pre-trial detention centre in the Sumy region and is part of the structure of the State Penal Service of Ukraine.
The institution provides for the detention of persons taken into custody, the execution of court sentences regarding certain categories of convicts, and performs other functions defined by the criminal procedural and penal legislation of Ukraine.
The history of penal affairs in the city of Sumy spans over two centuries. According to archival materials, places of preliminary detention existed in the city as early as the 18th century, and throughout the 19th century, a provincial prison functioned, which was repeatedly rebuilt and used for holding persons taken into custody and those convicted.
During the Soviet period, the historic prison building was gradually repurposed into a pre-trial detention centre. However, by the end of the 1970s, its technical condition no longer met safety and operational requirements. In this regard, a decision was made to build a new, modern complex.
In 1985, a new pre-trial detention centre designed for 540 places was commissioned on the outskirts of the city of Sumy. The construction was carried out under the leadership of the institution’s head, Lieutenant Colonel of the Internal Service Mykola Levenets. This complex remains the site of the Sumy Pre-trial Detention Centre today.
The institution’s complex occupies a territory of about 4 hectares and includes high-security, administrative, economic, and production facilities.
The institution is equipped with a cell stock for the detention of persons taken into custody, as well as a section for convicts left to perform economic maintenance work.
After the proclamation of Ukraine’s independence, the Sumy Pre-trial Detention Centre joined the national penal system, and subsequently, the structure of the State Penal Service of Ukraine and the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.
With the onset of the full-scale armed aggression by the Russian Federation, the Sumy region became one of the first regions of Ukraine to experience invasion and regular shelling.
Despite the difficult security situation, the institution continues to perform its assigned functions, ensuring proper conditions for holding persons in custody, compliance with the regime, medical care, and the conduct of social and educational work with convicts.
In recent years, the Sumy Pre-trial Detention Centre has been the object of comprehensive monitoring visits by the National Preventive Mechanism and human rights organisations, during which the conditions of detention, the state of the engineering infrastructure, the organisation of medical care, compliance with the labour rights of convicts left for economic maintenance, and the implementation of international standards for the treatment of persons deprived of liberty were examined.
Today, the State Institution “Sumy Pre-trial Detention Centre” is the key penal institution of the Sumy region, combining the performance of criminal justice tasks with the provision of human rights and the functioning of the preliminary detention system under martial law.
Contact information State Institution “Sumy Pre-trial Detention Centre”, 19 Haiovyi Passage, Sumy, Sumy region, 40002
Head of the institution: Vadym Ihorovych VASIN
Telephone: (0542) 61-83-42 E-mail: [email protected]