Problems and perspectives of establishing prison inspections in Ukraine - Статья

PROBLEMS AND PERSPECTIVES OF ESTABLISHING PRISON INSPECTIONS IN UKRAINE Dmytro Yagunov, PhD in Public Administration, MSSc in Criminal Justice National expert of the Project of the Council of Europe «Further Support for the Penitentiary Reform in Ukraine» The article is focused on problems of establishing of internal and external prison inspections which are strongly recommended by numerous international human rights standards. The article is also focused on problems of the supervision over penitentiaries conducted by the Prosecution Office of Ukraine. The article contains recommendations and proposals for the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine and the State Penitentiary System of Ukraine in the sphere of shaping and implementing of the national prison policy. The article stresses on the importance of the new UN standard in the sphere of treatment of prisoners adopted in May 2015 (so called the Mandela Rules), which contain very important provisions on the issues of establishing of prison inspections. It is also focused on the draft Amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine presented by the President of Ukraine in November 2015. Key words: prison inspection, European Prison Rules, Mandela Rules, Prosecution office, human rights of prisoners, national prison standards. prison inspection penitentiary supervision During the years of Ukrainian independence a lot of projects focused on the rights of prisoners and prison reform were implemented in Ukraine. At the same time it could sound strange that one very important component of prison reform started only a few months ago. It is about establishing prison (penitentiary) inspections in Ukraine (so-called twofold inspection mechanism) and shaping national Ukrainian prison standards. Outlining the main idea of this article, first of all we should recall that the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (adopted in 1955, approved by the Economic and Social Council by its resolutions 663 C (XXIV) of 31.07.1957 and 2076 (LXII) of 13.05.1977) contained relevant recommendations for establishing prison inspections as an integral part of any national prison system. The Rule 55 of this important international standard was focused on issues of prison inspections. It stresses that there shall be a regular inspection of penal institutions and services by qualified and experienced inspectors appointed by a competent authority. Their task shall be in particular to ensure that these institutions are administered in accordance with existing laws and regulations and with a view to bringing about the objectives of penal and correctional services. The European Prison Rules (Recommendation R(87)3, adopted on 12.02.1987 at the 404th meeting of the Ministers Deputies) also contained very important provisions concerning government prison inspections In particular, the European Prison Rules made a special focus that the purposes of these rules were to provide realistic basic criteria against which prison administrations and those responsible for inspecting the conditions and management of prisons could make valid judgments of performance and measure progress towards higher standards. The European Prison Rules (1987) state that there shall be regular inspections of penal institutions and services by qualified and experienced inspectors appointed by a competent authority. In both cases, the objective of the inspections shall be to ensure that prisons are managed in accordance with existing laws, regulations, policies and procedures, with a view to bringing about the objectives of penal and corrections services, and that the rights of prisoners are protected. According to the Rule 84, inspectors shall have the authority: (a) to access all information on the numbers of prisoners and places and locations of detention, as well as all information relevant to the treatment of prisoners, including their records and conditions of detention; (b) to freely choose which prisons to visit, including by making unannounced visits at their own initiative, and which prisoners to interview; (c) to conduct private and fully confidential interviews with prisoners and prison staff in the course of their visits; (d) to make recommendations to the prison administration and other competent authorities.