Legal and institutional changes in the Ukrainian penitentiary system since independence in 1991 and in the aftermath of the Russian aggression on Ukraine

Abstract

The State Criminal Executive Service of Ukraine has gone through a difficult path of development, which was accompanied by changes in the system of criminal punishment, criminal justice, and criminal punishment. The article analyzes the main periods of the development of Ukraine’s prison system since independence in 1991. Special attention is paid to legal and factual changes during the war and after 2014 in general. The main factors and reasons that influenced the formation of modern state policy and specific changes in this regard were identified. The determining factor was Ukraine’s choice for democratic development, a course for European integration, and transformations to establish the higher values of law. The article analyzes the legal aspects of criminal punishment, criminal justice, and enforcement. The article also examines changes to regulations in these areas in connection with reforms that were carried out. It was demonstrated that the reform of the prison system took shape as a new approach to the treatment of prisoners and the creation of appropriate conditions in penitentiaries. It was noted that due to these reforms in the prison system, there were changes to the purpose and task of penal institutions. In particular, penitentiaries changed the nature of their purpose from an exclusively repressive and isolating institution to a resocializing one.
The article draws attention to the fact that the reforms to the management and organization of the prison service led to fewer prisoners. Before the early 2000s, the number of prisoners in Ukraine was significantly higher, decreasing fourfold after that time. Corresponding steps in the prison policy of Ukraine to optimize the work of penitentiaries in recent years have been to “conserve” them (suspend operations for a certain period)1, to sell them, and to introduce paid cells in detention centers.
Significant attention in the article is paid to the challenges in the development of the prison system associated with the Russian military aggression since 2014 and in its most difficult phase, which began on February 24, 2022. The significant steps taken in the prison policy to confront these problems with a view to ensuring the functioning of penal institutions unaffected by the Russian occupation and to guaranteeing the protection of prisoners’ rights are analyzed.