Some aspects of the organisation of correctional colonies for the detention of convicted women

The State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine is continuously working towards improving the process of executing sentences for convicted women.
Ensuring appropriate conditions of detention in facilities for convicted women is a matter of particular attention for the leadership of the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine.
The socio-psychological service of territorial administrations and units is taking measures to organise social and educational work with convicted women, provide psychological support, and facilitate their social adaptation after release. At the same time, efforts are being made to involve public and state organisations in the process of re-socialisation of convicted women and to provide them with assistance upon release.
One of the main tasks of the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine related to the organisation of the execution of sentences for convicted women remains their placement, the creation of necessary living conditions that would help preserve women's social functions, the assurance of their rights and legitimate interests, and the promotion of successful social adaptation after release.
Currently, convicted women serve their sentences in 13 correctional colonies, the Ordzhonikidze Correctional Centre of the State Penitentiary Service management in the Dnipropetrovsk region (No. 79), and the Melitopol Educational Colony of the State Penitentiary Service management in the Zaporizhzhia region.
As of 1 July 2012, there were 7.1 thousand convicted women in the institutions of the State Criminal-Executive Service of Ukraine, 94 of whom were minors and 21 were sentenced to life imprisonment. In addition, 2.3 thousand women are held in custody in pre-trial detention centres, and 15.4 thousand women are registered in criminal-executive inspections for sentences not involving deprivation of liberty.
An analysis of the age composition of convicted women in penal institutions shows that the most numerous group consists of women aged 18 to 25 — more than 1 thousand (14%), aged 25 to 45 — 4.2 thousand (59%), and aged over 45 — 1.8 thousand convicts (25%).
Among incarcerated women, there is an increasing concentration of socially vulnerable groups that require special attention and assistance.
The stay of women in places of deprivation of liberty significantly intensifies the process of rupturing family ties.
Thus, nearly 1.3 thousand (18%) women are in a registered marriage, about 1.2 thousand (17%) are divorced; 2.4 thousand (34%) have never been married; about 1.4 thousand (20%) are in a common-law marriage (according to the convicts); 844 (12%) are widows; 26 individuals registered a marriage while in custody; and 8 individuals divorced while in custody.
The loss of contact with relatives has an extremely negative impact on the behaviour of these women. During the year, 2 thousand (30%) individuals did not receive parcels or transfers; about 4.2 thousand (59%) had no long-term visits with relatives; 1.1 thousand (15%) convicted women have children under the age of 6; 690 (10%) have been deprived of parental rights; and 611 (8.6%) have children in boarding schools.
In all correctional colonies, work is being carried out to organise general secondary education for convicted women. Currently, general educational institutions operate within every such facility. About 1027 convicted women are acquiring a secondary education in these establishments. 10 individuals are already studying in higher education institutions via correspondence courses.
Given that mastering a profession is crucial for the process of adaptation after release, conditions for socially useful labour and vocational training have been created in the institutions.
The vocational training system in institutions for convicted women considers not only the needs of internal production but, primarily, the modern labour market. Thus, 645 convicts are studying in vocational-technical institutions attached to penal institutions. About 4 thousand convicted women have a profession and are employed at the institutions' enterprises.
Colonies for convicted women host clubs of a socially useful nature. Libraries have established collections of educational and fiction literature, club activities are conducted, and recreational events of both local and national character are organised. Convicted women take an active part in exhibitions and competitions of arts and crafts, which are held annually by the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine.
According to criminal-executive legislation, additional favourable conditions for serving a sentence are created for socially vulnerable categories of convicts, which includes women. Thus, for convicted minors, persons with group I and II disabilities, women who are more than four months pregnant, unemployed women with children in the children's home at the correctional colony, unemployed women over fifty-five years of age (if they do not receive a pension), as well as persons exempted from work due to illness, including those suffering from active tuberculosis, food, clothing, footwear, linen, and utility services are provided free of charge. These categories of convicts, with the exception of minors, are permitted to work at their own request, taking into account the conclusions of the colony's medical commission.
One of the most vulnerable groups of convicted women are mothers with children who are in places of deprivation of liberty. With the aim of preserving the mother-child bond and fostering responsible motherhood in these women, two correctional colonies for convicted women (Chernihiv Correctional Colony No. 44 and Chornomorsk Correctional Colony No. 74) operate under the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine, within which children's homes function. As of 1 July 2012, there were 108 children in these children's homes.
The purpose of the children’s home is to ensure the realisation of the child’s right to childhood, as provided for by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the legislation of Ukraine, and the woman’s right to motherhood, as provided for by Article 51 of the Constitution of Ukraine. This is achieved by strengthening the stability and continuity of the child-mother relationship, supporting effective measures for the child's development, and facilitating compliance with the standards established by relevant regulatory legal acts for the detention of women deprived of liberty who have children under 3 years of age with them.
At present, the children’s home at a correctional colony does not have a legally (legislatively) established status as a child institution where a child resides permanently. This is one of the reasons why there is no separate funding programme for children’s homes from the state budget.
The organisation of the work of children’s homes at correctional colonies has, until now, been carried out in accordance with the ‘Procedure for Medical and Sanitary Provision for Persons Held in Pre-trial Detention Centres and Penal Institutions of the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Sentences’, approved by the joint order of the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Sentences and the Ministry of Health of Ukraine dated 18.01.? No. 3/6, registered with the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine on 09.03.2000 under No. 143/4364.
According to the conclusion of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine dated 7 June 2004, No. 3/26, the decision on the state registration of the aforementioned order was cancelled, and on 15 July 2004, it was excluded from the State Register of Normative Legal Acts of ministries and other executive bodies.
Within the framework of the Swiss-Ukrainian project ‘Support for Penitentiary Reform in Ukraine’ (2009-2012), a children’s home for the joint residence of mothers and children was built and opened in September 2010 at the Chernihiv Correctional Colony (No. 44).
In order to determine the organisational and legal foundations for the activities of the children’s home at a correctional colony, the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine has developed a draft joint order of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine and the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, ‘On Approval of the Model Regulation on the Children’s Home at a Correctional Colony’.
The draft joint order has been agreed upon by the Government Commissioner for the European Court of Human Rights and the Ministry of Health of Ukraine.
Currently, the draft order is undergoing coordination at the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.
At present, on the initiative of the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine, proposals are being coordinated with the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine for the draft Law of Ukraine ‘On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Regarding Ensuring the Rights and Legitimate Interests of Children Under Three Years of Age Who Are Placed in Children’s Homes at Correctional Colonies for Convicted Women’.
Over the last year, the attention of the Service’s leadership has repeatedly been drawn to the complex and insufficiently regulated issue of ensuring the realisation of women’s rights to receive state assistance for families with children.
Pregnant women and women with children under 3 years of age frequently end up in the pre-trial detention centres of the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine. To ensure appropriate conditions of detention for this category of detainees, specialised cells are equipped in pre-trial detention centres.
During the study of the issue regarding ensuring the right of women held in penal institutions and pre-trial detention centres, and their children, to receive state assistance for families with children, it was established that the specifics of the activities of pre-trial detention centres and children’s homes at correctional colonies, as well as the legal status of children who are placed therein and held together with their mothers, are not taken into account in a number of normative acts on child social protection. Thus, social protection bodies interpret the provisions of these acts differently and refuse to process applications for assistance.
Therefore, if a pregnant woman gave birth to a child while staying in a pre-trial detention centre, the resolution of the issue of receiving state assistance for families with children—which is not clearly regulated by legislation—often had no prospect of resolution before the end of the term of detention in pre-trial facilities.
Today, the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine has taken measures to regulate issues that complicate the process of applying for and receiving state assistance by incarcerated women.
Thus, the leadership of the territorial management bodies of the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine has held joint meetings with social protection bodies, with the participation of representatives of justice and prosecutor's offices, to discuss the procedure for processing state assistance for incarcerated women.
In the course of studying the issue of obtaining state assistance for convicted women with children, it was established that the specifics of the operation of children’s homes at correctional colonies, defined by Article 141 of the Criminal-Executive Code—in particular, related to the possibility of joint residence of a convicted mother with her child—complicate the granting of the status of ‘child institution’ to these homes, as defined by the ‘Model Regulation on Children’s Homes’ approved by the Ministry of Health order dated 18.05.1998, No. 123.
With the aim of resolving this issue, the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine sent a request to the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine for clarifications on the procedure for paying state assistance to mothers held with children in pre-trial detention centres and to children placed in children’s homes at correctional colonies. The clarifications received confirmed the necessity of resolving the issue of making relevant amendments to the ‘Procedure for Appointment and Payment of State Assistance to Families with Children’, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine resolution dated 27.12.2001, No. 1751, and the ‘Procedure for Payment of State Assistance at Birth in Case of Placement in a Child Institution (Children’s Home) for Full State Support’, approved by the joint order of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy of Ukraine, the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, and the Ministry of Ukraine for Family, Youth and Sports dated 19.05.2008, No. 254/704/260/427/2014.
Relevant proposals, in accordance with their competence, have been submitted for consideration to the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, which is reviewing them jointly with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.
The implementation of measures to ensure the rights of convicted and detained women to receive state assistance is under the constant control of the leadership of the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine.

Subotenko O.O., Senior Inspector for Special Assignments, Major (Internal Service)

This article was prepared as part of a project implemented with the support of the
Democracy Grants Program of the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine.
The views of the authors do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Government.

Supported by the Democracy Grants Program
of the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine. The views of the participants do not necessarily
reflect the official position of the U.S. Government.”