Report on the monitoring visit to State Institution ‘Kryvyi Rih Penal Colony No. 80’
General Information
On 1 October 2020, the KHRPG monitoring group, consisting of People’s Deputy assistant Maksym Revyakin and two journalists, Hanna Ovdiienko and Pavlo Shvab, paid a follow-up visit to the State Institution ‘Kryvyi Rih Penal Colony No. 80’. We recall that the previous monitoring visit took place on 11 November 2019. During the previous visit, the canteen, kitchen, and bathhouse were under renovation. There were also significant problems in the institution regarding the provision of medical care and the staffing of the medical unit.
The Kryvyi Rih Penal Colony is a medium-security facility for men sentenced to imprisonment for the first time. The planned occupancy of the institution is 1,200 people; at the time of the visit, there were 834 convicts in the colony. However, the head of the institution reported that due to the liquidation of another institution, the colony would soon be 100 percent full. Note that for such a large number of convicts, the administration consists of only 190 people. This, as the chief pointed out, is a staff shortage. Based on the monitors’ experience, the ratio of administration representatives to convicts is 1 to 2 or even 1 to 1.
Initially, the monitors visited the canteen, which was under renovation at the time of the previous visit. Now, the canteen and kitchen are fully renovated. A service line has been installed in the canteen. Convicts wash their hands first, then receive food, and then proceed to the table for their meal.
Next, the monitors visited the bathhouse, which was also under renovation during the previous visit. The monitors were pleasantly surprised that the bathhouse had also been fully renovated. There are new washing machines and new shower cubicles. There are mats in the shower cubicles, but there are no curtains. The head of the colony assured them that the convicts themselves had refused the curtains.
The monitors visited the medical unit last. To the great regret of the monitors, the situation in the medical unit has not changed since 2019. There is still no head of the medical unit; there are only two doctors – a dentist and an infectious disease specialist working part-time. Two medical assistants (feldsher) also work part-time. At the time of the visit, the dentist and one medical assistant were present. There were 14 convicts in the medical unit. The medical assistant told the monitors that the medical unit is capable of making diagnoses and treating only the simplest diseases independently. In other cases, convicts have to be taken to Ministry of Health facilities or to the facilities of the Healthcare Centre of the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine.
The institution’s leadership noted that the problem of parole for convicts who have a positive character reference and for whom the administration itself files petitions continues to exist. Prosecutors object to such petitions, and the court sides with the prosecution authorities. As a result, 60 percent of the petitions remain unsatisfied. Convicts who, in accordance with current legislation, have the right to parole continue to serve their sentences in the colony.
EU project ‘Resisting torture, cruel treatment and impunity in Ukraine’