Does Personnel Have Knowledge of Human Rights?

Do convicted persons serving their sentences in institutions of the State Department of Ukraine for Implementation of Sentences know their rights?
If anyone thinks they do, they are mistaken. For to know how many visits per year are permitted, or how much of the overall sentence must be served to be eligible for early conditional release, or that every convicted person has the right to vote for officials in higher bodies of state power, while they themselves cannot be elected to these same bodies whilst their criminal record has not been expunged or erased in accordance with the procedure established by law – this is not enough. Because for the most part, convicted persons do not possess elementary knowledge of how to effectively solve their problems in a legal manner, nor of how to protect themselves from criminal encroachment by representatives of the authorities.
And does such an effective legal means of protection exist, which allows, should complications arise between a convicted person and representatives of the personnel of penal institutions, through the use of certain legal knowledge, to ensure the prisoner's safety? If so, then it would be logical to note that if there existed an effective instrument of legal protection for convicts, it would be senseless not to be able to realise these opportunities effectively. In accordance with Article 55 of the Constitution of Ukraine, everyone is guaranteed the right to appeal in court against decisions, actions or inaction of bodies of state power, bodies of local self-government, officials and public servants. At the same time, constitutional rights and freedoms of a person and citizen cannot be limited, except in cases provided for in the Fundamental Law (Article 64).
Article 124 of the Constitution clearly and unambiguously establishes: "The jurisdiction of courts extends to all legal relationships arising in the state". Despite the incontrovertible nature of this norm, representatives of the judicial authorities have effectively come to the conclusion that in Ukraine there exist legal relationships to which the jurisdiction of courts does NOT extend. These are the relationships that arise in the sphere of the implementation of criminal punishments. Practice testifies to the existence of numerous violations in the activities of the administration and officials of the bodies and institutions for the implementation of sentences, which underscores the importance of ensuring prisoners' access to courts. Let us pose the question: if the current legislation gives a convicted person the opportunity to appeal decisions, actions or inaction of the administration of bodies and institutions for the implementation of sentences, then to which court should such a person appeal? At first glance, this should be an administrative court, but this is only at first glance; practice testifies otherwise.
Administrative courts refuse to consider the claims of convicted persons in administrative-legal disputes, where one party is the convicted person and the other is a subject of power in the form of the administration of a penal institution. At the same time, the courts cite the fact that convicted persons serving sentences in places of deprivation of liberty should have the norms of criminal procedural law applied to them, since "in accordance with the requirements of Articles 407, 408, 411 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, the stage of execution of a sentence is one of the stages of criminal procedure, as a result of which matters concerning the execution of a sentence should be resolved in accordance with criminal procedure law", that is, in a court of general jurisdiction.
When turning to local courts, with the purpose of resolving a public-law dispute between a convicted person and the administration of a colony, convicted persons receive the response that the materials have been sent to the prosecutor's office, as the supervisory body over the implementation of legality during the serving of sentences. Thus, convicted persons are deprived of the opportunity to protect their interests in court. So what are these pieces of knowledge about rights and freedoms worth if they cannot be used in practice for their intended purpose?! Will a convicted person strive to acquire such legal knowledge, which is worthless to him?! Probably not! And as long as the courts do not resolve the problem of jurisdiction over cases concerning public-law disputes between convicted persons and the administration of penal institutions, convicted persons will have no incentive to master knowledge in the field of their rights, freedoms and legitimate interests. As for the personnel of penal institutions, it should be emphasised that to date, there is only one specialised institution for the training of personnel – the Chernihiv Law College of the State Department of Ukraine for Implementation of Sentences, where specialists of the criminal executive service study. Taking into account the meagre salaries of personnel, the almost complete absence of educational human rights programmes, one can only imagine what knowledge of human rights representatives of the personnel of penal institutions are capable of imparting to their subordinates – convicted persons deprived of liberty – and even more, of ensuring the realisation of these rights.
And what does the Department for Implementation of Sentences have to say on this matter?
In its concept of the State Programme for the Development of the State Criminal Executive Service of Ukraine for the period until 2015, it states the following: "low educational level of convicted persons and insufficient effectiveness of the social-educational and psychological services of bodies and institutions for the implementation of sentences, detention centres", "insufficient professionalism of personnel of bodies and institutions for the implementation of sentences, detention centres", "to date, the criminal executive service remains practically the only department which does not have a specialised higher educational institution of III–IV accreditation level, a departmental research institution and a system for advanced training of leading personnel of bodies and institutions for the implementation of sentences".
And what is the Department striving for by 2015? The Concept discusses "the development of scientific and scientific-methodological support for the activities of penal institutions and detention centres, the creation of a system for training, retraining and advanced training of personnel of the State Criminal Executive Service of Ukraine; the study and implementation of positive experience of European states in the sphere of criminal punishment implementation" (we hope that the practice of the European Court will also be carefully studied), "the reorganisation of the system of training, retraining and advanced training of personnel of the State Criminal Executive Service with the use of the possibilities of departmental educational institutions", "the establishment of a system of educational institutions at all levels of educational and qualification training, first and foremost a specialised higher educational and scientific institution of III–IV accreditation level for the training of personnel".
At the same time, the Concept contains not a word about the creation of measures and educational programmes that would contribute to raising the legal awareness and knowledge of convicted persons in the field of human rights, unless one takes into account that the Department, by the words "the study and implementation of positive experience of European states in the sphere of criminal punishment implementation", meant by 2015 to create in Ukraine penal institutions of European standard, in which human rights and the human being to whom these rights belong are both honoured and respected.