Behind bars – and never returned
The last two years have been marked by a surge in the number of suicide cases in prisons. While during 2008–2010 and even earlier, 40–44 suicides occurred annually, in 2011 the increase in suicides was +34%. According to the penitentiary service’s own data, even more suicide cases occurred in 2012 – 65, including 14 in pre-trial detention centres. This constitutes +54% against the average level of suicides from 2008–2010.
The mortality rate in 2012 was also extremely high: 1,021 prisoners died, including 179 persons in pre-trial detention centres. Although this is somewhat less than the number of deaths in prisons in 2011, when 1,169 persons died, nevertheless, the level in 2012 was 33% higher than the average level for 2008–2010.
| Indicators | 1.1.2004 | 1.1.2008 | 1.1.2009 | 1.1.2010 | 1.1.2011 | 1.1.2012 | 1.1.2013 |
| Number of persons in places of detention | 191,677 | 149,690 | 145,946 | 147,716 | 154,027 | 154,029 | 147,112 |
| Deaths | 824 | 729 | 765 | 761 | 808 | 1,169 | 1,021 |
| Per 1,000 prisoners | 4.30 | 4.87 | 5.24 | 5.15 | 5.25 | 7.59 | 6.94 |
| Suicide cases | 41 | 54 | 40 | 44 | 44 | 59 | 65 |
| Per 1,000 prisoners | 0.21 | 0.36 | 0.27 | 0.30 | 0.29 | 0.383 | 0.442 |
| Patients with active tuberculosis | 9,080 | 6,195 | 6,079 | 5,667 | 5,486 | 4,822 (?) | no data |
| Per 1,000 prisoners | 47.37 | 41.4 | 41.65 | 38.36 | 35.62 |
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| HIV-infected | 1,917 | 5,017 | 5,073 | 6,069 | 6,020 | 6,910 | 6,957 |
| Per 1,000 prisoners | 10.0 | 33.5 | 34.8 | 41.1 | 39.1 | 44.9 | 47.3 |
The recommendation of the “Donetsk Memorial” report, “Observance of Prisoners' Rights in Ukraine-2011”, that it should “identify the factors behind the significant growth in mortality and suicides and take measures to reduce them” has not been implemented by the penitentiary service.
The penitentiary service's references to illnesses as the cause of mortality do not look convincing. Patients with tuberculosis and HIV infection have always existed. And a change in their number does not automatically affect the mortality rate. Quite the contrary—the number of tuberculosis patients is constantly decreasing, and when HIV-infected persons increased in 2009 by 996, the number of people who died even decreased by 4. Thus, the reasons cited by the penitentiary service are unlikely to be covered by morbidity related specifically to tuberculosis and HIV.
And illnesses do not influence the number of suicides at all. The penitentiary service must provide the real factors that influence the very significant growth in both deaths and suicides.