Notes from the SIZO

In September, representatives of the prosecutor's office conducted an inspection of the conditions of detainees at the Kherson Pre-trial Detention Centre. It differed from the usual weekly inspection in that representatives of the Public Council under the State Department for the Execution of Sentences in the Kherson region and journalists from the newspaper “Vhoru” joined the inspectors.
The journalists were impressed by the SIZO's medical equipment.
As soon as a person is detained by the police, they are immediately examined, including for tuberculosis. Upon admission to the pre-trial detention centre, they are examined again.
The SIZO is proud that since last year, equipment has been installed and is operating that allows for diagnosis in just a matter of minutes and the detection of diseases in the very early stages. The image quality has become much better, and the radiation dose is 10–15 times lower. This year, about 6,000 people have already been examined. As the supervising prosecutor, Serhiy Donev, explained, it happens (there were 15 such incidents in the first 8 months of this year) that a healthy person is brought in based on the conclusions of district doctors, but upon re-examination at the SIZO, an active form of tuberculosis is discovered. In other words, those who held him in the cell, guarded him, and escorted him did not even suspect that he was ill. And so, a chain of infection begins. Regarding these facts, the prosecutor's office sends information to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, district departments, and health authorities, and an investigation is conducted.
And, as the radiologist assures us, this is absolutely not related to them having good equipment. It sometimes happens that a man is admitted, but his medical documents contain an X-ray of a woman's chest...
It is hard to believe that one can have a cavity filled for free anywhere nowadays. Even in a departmental clinic, one has to pay for the anaesthesia and the filling material itself. And the cheapest way to get rid of the most terrible pain is to have the tooth extracted. But in the SIZO, it turns out, they not only extract teeth but also treat them—for free. The equipment in that dental office is no different from the modern dental drills already in use in private clinics, and the filling materials are supplied from Germany. Prosthetics, admittedly, are more complicated. If a detainee or convict has their own money in a personal account, or has relatives ready to help and pay for the arrival of a prosthetist to the centre and for their services, then the medical staff of the SIZO makes arrangements with city specialists. It is more expensive than it would be at liberty, but it is possible.