Rights Behind Bars: Have the New Rules Brought Us Closer to Europe?
By Order No. 3441/5 of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine dated 12 December 2025, signed by Deputy Minister Liudmyla Suhak, amendments to the internal regulations of pre-trial detention centres and correctional institutions were approved. The innovations cover medical care, digital communication, and disciplinary practice, declaring Ukraine’s aspiration to comply with European standards. However, analysis shows that many of the changes are of a technical or formal nature.
Medical Care: Limited Independence
The rules establish the separation of the medical function from the administrative one: care is provided by staff of the Healthcare Centre of the State Criminal Executive Service in accordance with Ministry of Health standards, and the administration is prohibited from interfering in the treatment process. This complies with the recommendations of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT). However, the medical service remains within the structure of the Ministry of Justice rather than being subordinated to the Ministry of Health. Without institutional independence and external oversight, this separation is organisational rather than systemic reform.
The administration is now obliged to bring detainees to a doctor ‘without delay’. This strengthens the protection of rights, but the lack of specific timeframes and independent monitoring of requests leaves room for abuse. The key issue – the absence of a Procedure for the Provision of Medical Care in Pre-trial Detention Centres – remains unresolved, posing risks to the lives of convicts.
Technology, Recording, and Digital Rights
Officers have been granted the right to video-record events using tablets, which could become an instrument of internal control. However, only the administration has access to the recordings, which calls into question the transparency of the system for defence lawyers and human rights defenders. As for convicts, the procedure for confiscating their tablets for violations has been regulated. This creates a risk of administrative pressure, as digital devices are often the only channel of communication with the outside world.
Life-Sentenced Prisoners: Minimal Changes
Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment have been permitted limited movement within an isolated post, subject to good behaviour. Although this opens up the possibility of minimal human contact, the regime of strict isolation remains. This change does not address the main requirements of the ECtHR regarding the right to hope, the prospect of sentence review, and the genuine rehabilitation of life-sentenced prisoners.
Are These Changes a Step Towards European Integration?
Formally, the order uses the terminology of European standards, but in substance, it does not create new legal guarantees. Penitentiary healthcare is not integrated into the general healthcare system, and control remains departmental. This is a matter of the internal ordering of the system rather than its transformation.
Conclusions: The updating of the rules is a technical step that preserves the punitive logic. Genuine reform requires transferring the medical service to the Ministry of Health, introducing independent monitoring, and establishing transparent disciplinary procedures. European standards do not begin with orders, but with treating a prisoner as a human being.