On changes to the Instruction on the inspection of correspondence of convicts

On the 25th of January 2006, the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Sentences issued Order No. 13, which approved the Instruction on the inspection of correspondence of convicts. Certain provisions of this Instruction to one degree or another violated the rights and legitimate interests of convicts.

After the 'Chernihiv Women's Human Rights Centre' charitable organisation appealed to the General Prosecutor's Office, the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, and the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Sentences, and following lengthy correspondence and active discussion that lasted more than a year, the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Sentences took into account security factors for the normal functioning of penal institutions and the needs of convicts to communicate with the outside world without excessive interference in their private lives. The State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Sentences issued Order No. 140 on the 5th of June 2008, which introduced changes to the Instruction on the inspection of correspondence of convicts, namely: the requirement to place a special 55 x 45 stamp on outgoing convict mail, stating the name of the correctional colony and its postal address, was abolished. Additionally, the wording of clause 2.4 of the Instruction regarding the procedure for sending letters to the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, the European Court of Human Rights, as well as other relevant international organisations of which Ukraine is a member or participant, and to prosecutors, was amended.