The Penal System of Ukraine in 2020. Statistical Overview.

In the places of detention within the penal system of Ukraine controlled by the Ukrainian authorities—that is, excluding institutions in Crimea and the occupied parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions—according to data reported to “Donetsk Memorial” by the Administration of the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine, 49,823 persons were held as of 01.01.2021 (letter of the SPSU No. 3/1-32-21/5-Pi dated 26.01.2021; hereinafter in parentheses — as of 01.01.2020 — 52,863 persons). Over the year, the number of persons in places of detention decreased by 3,040 (2,215), or by -5.75% (-4.02%).

The dynamics of the number of persons in penal system institutions over the last seven years are shown in the following table 1.

Table 1

* Estimated data, taking into account institutions in the occupied territory of Donbas.

The number of prisoners per 100,000 population for Ukraine is 120. It is calculated based on the population of Ukraine, which, according to official data as of 1 January 2021, was 41.6 million persons.

As of 01.01.2021, 16,673 persons were held in custody in 12 operating pre-trial detention centres (remand centres) and 17 penal institutions with remand centre functions (formerly remand centres — Ed.); thus, the number of all persons held in custody decreased by 829 persons (a decrease of 528 persons the year prior), or by -4.74% (-2.93%).

In 2020, 8,656 persons were released from remand centres without being transferred to penal institutions (9,369 persons the previous year). Among the main reasons for which persons were released from remand centres during 2020 were: a change of preventive measure to a more lenient one — 4,629 persons (4,998 persons a year prior); imposition of a custodial sentence, but for a relatively short term — as a rule, a term that the detained person had already served while in the remand centre — 471 persons (546 persons); as well as the imposition of non-custodial sentences — 943 persons (1,001 persons a year prior); and due to the dismissal of cases by courts and acquittals — 30 persons (31 persons a year prior).

Statistical data regarding the reasons for the release of persons from remand centres in recent years are shown in Table 2.

Table 2

A certain indicator of the complexity of problems in the medical sphere and the provision of medical services is the level of morbidity, mortality, and the number of suicide cases in the department's institutions.

During 2020, 485 persons died in penal institutions (517 persons), of which 179 persons (198 persons) died in remand centres and penal institutions. The number of suicide cases while persons were held in all places of detention in 2020 was 52 (51), of which 13 cases (19 persons) were in remand centres and penal institutions.

The number of prisoners suffering from tuberculosis at the end of 2020 was 886 (1,113 persons), including 214 persons (247 persons) in remand centres and penal institutions. Calculated per 1,000 prisoners, the number of such patients noticeably decreased in 2020 from 21.05 to 17.78.

The number of HIV-positive persons increased in 2020 from 3,824 to 3,901, including 1,172 persons in remand centres and penal institutions (1,077 persons), and, calculated per 1,000 prisoners, it noticeably increased from 72.34 to 78.30.

The dynamics of these indicators over the last years are shown in Table 3.

Table 3

Morbidity and mortality in Department institutions in 2003, 2012, and 2016-2020

As of 1 January 2020, 1,244 persons with disabilities were held in penal institutions (1,300 persons a year prior), of which 220 persons (210) were in remand centres and penal institutions.

According to the Probation Centre, as of 01.01.2021, 59,029 persons sentenced to non-custodial punishments were registered with the authorized probation bodies (60,736 persons a year prior), of which 739 were minors (846 persons a year prior) (letter No. 5/4-ZPI/I/Yan-21 dated 09.02.2021).

A feature of the penitentiary system reform proclaimed by the Ministry of Justice is the policy of reducing the number of institutions for holding persons deprived of liberty.

During 2017-18, the process of the actual closure of institutions is not reflected in official documents (see para. 37 of the 2018 Report).

To the 27 institutions whose activities were optimized in previous years and which were listed in para. 37 of the 2018 Report and para. 41 of the 2019 Report, another 12 institutions were added in 2020.

There are also incarcerated persons in some other departments.

In the governing bodies of the Military Law Enforcement Service (hereinafter — MLES) of the **Ministry of Defence**, as of the beginning of 2021, 11 guardhouses were functioning for the detention of military personnel taken into custody, arrested or detained military personnel, and a disciplinary battalion for serving sentences.

According to the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, as of 01.01.2020, 25 military personnel were held in the MLES disciplinary battalion; during the year, 18 military personnel were held in the disciplinary battalion, and as of 01.01.2021, 19 persons.

At the beginning of the year, 34 military personnel were in custody at guardhouses; during the year, 254 military personnel taken into custody were held at guardhouses, of whom 221 persons were discharged to their places of military service.

As of 01.01.2021, 39 military personnel taken into custody on suspicion of committing crimes were held at MLES guardhouses (letter of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine No. 306/3/1367 dated 26 February 2021).

Territorial bodies of the **police** in 2020 accounted for 129 temporary detention facilities (136) with a total occupancy limit of 2.9 thousand places (2,990 places). As of 1 January 2021, 147 persons were held in them (280 persons). In total, during 2020, 53.7 thousand persons were held in temporary detention facilities (67.5 thousand persons) (letter No. 85/37/2/02-2021 dated 14 January 2021).

During 2020, 4 (5) detained and custody-held persons died in temporary detention facilities, of whom 2 (4) were due to suicides, and another 2 (1) due to natural causes.

In 2020, 55 police officers died (54 persons the year prior), of whom 48 police officers died under circumstances not related to the performance of official duties (51 persons the previous year), and 7 police officers under circumstances related to the performance of official duties (3 persons the year prior).

The **Security Service of Ukraine (SBU)** operates one temporary detention facility in Kyiv for holding persons suspected of preparing or conducting reconnaissance and subversive or terrorist activities and committing other crimes, the investigation of which is referred to the competence of SBU bodies. The capacity of the facility is 48 persons. As of 01.01.2021, 14 persons were held in it (5 persons the previous year), and in total, 77 persons were held during 2020 (127 persons). There were no cases of death of detained persons in 2020 (letter of the SBU No. 23/B-1-P/36/29 dated 13.01.2021).

Children who have committed criminal offences under the age of 14 are sent to social rehabilitation schools and vocational colleges. These institutions are under the subordination of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine; currently, two are functioning: the Komyshuvakha Social Rehabilitation School for boys, Zaporizhzhia region (designed for 160 persons), in which 8 boys were held as of 01.01.2021 (4 the previous year), and the Makiivka Vocational College of Social Rehabilitation for boys, which is temporarily housed at the Balakhivka Social Rehabilitation School, Kirovohrad region (designed for 180 persons), and in which 5 boys remained (9 boys the previous year) (letter No. 5/16-21 dated 14.01.2021).

The level of compliance with legality during the detention of prisoners is evidenced by the number of violations by staff of institutions revealed by **prosecutor's offices** when exercising supervision over compliance with laws. The true number of such cases is impossible to estimate, but the results of the activities of prosecutor's offices provide some idea of the scale of the phenomenon.

During 2020, prosecutors issued 1,817 documents of prosecutorial response. Based on the results of their consideration, 2,136 persons were held accountable.

A year earlier, 1,758 documents of prosecutorial response regarding staff of correctional colonies and remand centres were considered, with measures taken to eliminate violations of the law. At the same time, 1,913 persons were held to disciplinary, administrative, and material responsibility (see para. 42 of the 2019 Report).

During 2020, 32 SPS staff members were held criminally liable (47 the previous year) (letter of the Office of the Prosecutor General No. 27/3-132vykh-21 dated 15.01.2021).

One of the few institutions in the country that has the authority to check the observance of human rights is the **Commissioner** of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for Human Rights (hereinafter — the Commissioner). The position of Commissioner was held in 2020 by Liudmyla Denisova.

The role of the Commissioner is particularly significant for prisoners because the law obliges the administrations of penal institutions to send prisoners' complaints to the ombudsman without hindrance. Moreover, in accordance with Article 19-1 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for Human Rights”, the Commissioner is entrusted with the functions of a national preventive mechanism (hereinafter — NPM) in accordance with the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

According to data provided by the Secretariat of the Commissioner within the framework of the implementation of the NPM, employees of the Secretariat carried out 815 visits (711 visits the previous year) to various types of places of deprivation of liberty in 2020. In 2020, 18 acts of response regarding the elimination of identified human rights violations were submitted to heads of state authorities. 118 representatives of the public participated in visiting places of deprivation of liberty, which include not only institutions of the penal system but also other establishments, such as psychiatric hospitals (175 the previous year), in 277 visits, as well as 31 experts (94 experts and specialists the previous year) in 33 visits (letter No. 01.27/32.14/16.13/21/ZI dated 16.01.2021).

After receiving the responses from the Secretariat, the Annual Report of the Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for Human Rights on the state of observance and protection of human and civil rights and freedoms in Ukraine in 2020 (hereinafter — the Report) was published.

The Report cites the number of monitoring visits for 2020 to each of the departments:

“Within the framework of the implementation of the NPM in 2020, employees of the Commissioner's Secretariat conducted 815 monitoring visits to all types of places of deprivation of liberty, of which 677 (83%) were for the purpose of studying the status of ensuring measures for the prevention and spread of the COVID-19 disease. In particular, to institutions in the sphere of management of the Ministry of Justice — 135, Ministry of Internal Affairs — 179, Ministry of Defence — 23, Ministry of Social Policy — 271, Ministry of Education and Science — 33, Ministry of Health — 52, State Migration Service — 8, State Border Guard Service — 17, SBU — 1, courts — 96”.

At the same time, of the total number of visits, 677 were conducted to study the status of ensuring measures for the prevention and spread of the COVID-19 disease. The Report also notes:

“Compared to the previous (2019) year, the number of reports received by the Commissioner regarding violations of the rights of persons in places of deprivation of liberty increased almost twofold — 3,154 reports against 1,775 in 2019, of which 2,388 (75%) related to the observance of human rights in SPS institutions. The number of reports of acts of torture from citizens in places of deprivation of liberty or their relatives increased from 43 in 2019 to 165 in 2020”.

The participation of the public in monitoring visits is also mentioned in the Report:

“118 public monitors were involved in conducting NPM monitoring visits, which are carried out in the ‘Ombudsman+’ format, in 2020”. However, it is unknown how many of these 118 monitors participated specifically in the 135 visits to Ministry of Justice institutions (effectively — to SPS institutions). It is obvious that dozens of these visits took place without the participation of monitors. And it would be very appropriate to know in what proportion of visits with the participation of monitors numerous and serious human rights violations were identified, and in what proportion of visits without monitors similar findings occurred. At the same time, the Secretariat cannot report anything regarding such details of the visits. For example, when asked to report what portion of the proposals provided as a result of the visits concerns specifically penitentiary institutions, we were told that they could not report this, since such separation regarding institutions of individual departments is not provided for by statistical reporting.

Taking into account that one of the main tasks of the NPM is the identification of cases of torture and ill-treatment and responding to such cases, considering the conduct of more than eight hundred monitoring visits, the Secretariat's response to the question about the number of proposals submitted by the ombudsman to state authorities in 2020, and not just any proposals, but specifically regarding the prevention of torture and ill-treatment, is particularly interesting. It turned out that information about recommendations and proposals that concern specifically the prevention of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment cannot be provided either, as the Commissioner's Secretariat does not possess such information. Moreover, it is not even obliged to “maintain a separate record of the number of proposals regarding the prevention of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”.

One of the important functions of the ombudsman is responding to violations by state institutions of the right to access public information about their activities and taking measures provided for by legislation, bringing violators to justice, including by drawing up protocols on administrative violations. The activities of the Commissioner in 2020, as before (see paras. 66-69 of the 2019 Report), provided an example of a certain inactivity in this area. This is primarily evidenced by the statistics of responses to specific examples of such violations in this sphere.

According to the Commissioner's Secretariat, in 2020, 3,613 appeals regarding violations of the right to access public information were received (3,006 a year prior). For violation of the requirements of the law in accordance with Art. 212-3 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offences, 174 protocols on administrative violations were drawn up (240 a year prior), which accounts for 4.8% of the number of appeals (8.0% the previous year). Thus, protocols were not drawn up regarding 3,439 appeals (3,613-174).

The Commissioner and the Secretariat refused to provide the number of persons brought to justice for violating the right to access public information during 2020, citing that they are not the controller of this information, since the issue of bringing persons to justice is decided by the court. One must understand that how the court decides it is of no interest to the Commissioner.

The Secretariat reported that no acts of response by the Commissioner were sent regarding violations of the requirements of the law of Ukraine “On Access to Public Information” and the law “On Citizens' Appeals”. At the same time, the ombudsman's form of response is considered to be “sending letters to violators with an explanation of the provisions of the legislation and demands to confirm or refute the statements of the applicants about the violation of the specified rights with the provision of the relevant supporting documents”. About 2,000 such letters were sent (letter No. 30.1/23.14/17.13/21/ZI dated 13.01.2021).

* * *

The authors of this statistical overview are grateful to the departments that provided information upon the requests of “Donetsk Memorial” regarding persons deprived of liberty who are in the department's institutions, or with whom the department has a connection. We are grateful to the Department for the Execution of Criminal Sentences of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, the Healthcare Centre of the SPS of Ukraine, the Probation Centre, the National Police of Ukraine, the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, the Security Service of Ukraine, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, and the Office of the President of Ukraine.

The information provided by them was used in the preparation of this overview. The data and information presented in the overview may be clarified and supplemented if relevant additional information is received.

The Penal System of Ukraine in 2020. Statistical Overview. (pdf-file)