WAYS TO IMPROVE THE PENITENTIARY SYSTEM IN THE CONTEXT OF RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF PRISONERS

Abstract

Abstract. Despite the fact that Ukraine is making great efforts to harmonize the current national legislation regulating the work of the penitentiary system with the European one, it still cannot be said that the detention of prisoners in our country is at the proper level. Volunteers, human rights activists, journalists record violations, which are also written about by representatives of international monitoring organizations, the Ukrainian Ombudsman. The reason for numerous violations is not so much in the legal plane as in the plane of law enforcement. Unfortunately, the Soviet legacy in this area has not yet been completely overcome, which consists in stigmatizing prisoners, treating them as incorrigible people whose rights do not need to be protected, and even all kinds of oppression of such people are justified. Such public opinion is not only among ordinary citizens: its carriers are both political decision-makers and employees of penitentiary institutions. Therefore, for changes in this area, it is first of all necessary to change public opinion. This will provide the basis for such decisive steps as large-scale financing of infrastructure, which will make it possible to bring the premises of penitentiary institutions into line with existing standards. It is also extremely important to introduce educational and rehabilitation programs that would cover the majority of prisoners and contribute to their resocialization. In order to ensure the continuity and systematic nature of these changes, it is necessary to create a system of constant monitoring of the state of penitentiary institutions, observance of the rights of prisoners by representatives of international organizations. This will not allow reforms to be carried out formally, being satisfied with declarations that will not have real effectiveness. At the same time, this will demonstrate to the international community Ukraine’s serious readiness to correct existing shortcomings in this area.

Keywords: penitentiary system of Ukraine; rights of prisoners; human and civil rights; protection of rights and freedoms; violation of rights and freedoms; deprivation of liberty; rehabilitation of convicts.