Information, topic by topic, on prisons across the world

February 24, 2023

Ukraine: 107 Mothers

Interview

Women Europe Social ties Ukraine

Between 2016 and 2020, filmmaker Peter Kerekes visited Odessa Prison close to 120 times to shoot the film 107 Mothers. Odessa was one of a handful of Ukrainian prisons that allow mothers to serve their sentence with their children. Interview. Read more

September 30, 2022

Ukraine : battu, poignardé, un Britannique capturé par l'armée russe raconte son calvaire

News

Asia Foreign prisoners Torture Violence Ukraine

This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: French

September 26, 2022

Ukraine: news from the front lines

Interview

Europe Material conditions Torture Violence Ukraine

Half a year has passed since the beginning of the war. How has the situation evolved in prison? Vadym Chovgan (Danish Institute against Torture) accepted to update us on the recent developments. Interview. Read more

May 5, 2022

Ukraine: “prisons are left on their own”

Interview

Europe Material conditions Facilities Violence Social ties Ukraine

Information about prison is not easily accessible, even less during the war. Prison Insider is seeking to update its information about Ukrainian prisons. Read more

March 18, 2022

Ukraine: prisons in the war

News Interview

Europe Violence Ukraine

Dozens of Ukrainian prisons are under the control of Russian forces. Prisoners can hear the bombing from their closed cells. What is the fate of ordinary prisoners during the conflict? Read more

March 9, 2022

Russia/Ukraine: Prisoners of war must be protected from public curiosity under Geneva Convention

News

Europe Ukraine

In recent days, the Ukrainian authorities have brought Russian prisoners of war to press conferences to discuss their roles in the military invasion, and videos on social media have also shown captured soldiers contacting family members in Russia. Videos of captured Ukrainian soldiers have also app…

Source — Amnesty International

March 9, 2022

Ukraine: prisoners with combat experience will be released to help defend the nation against Russian invasion

News

Europe Ukraine

Zelensky said the decision was ‘not easy from the moral point of view’but he stressed that the defence of the nation was now the highest priority.

Source — The Daily Mail

February 24, 2022

Ukraine: The prison population should be included in evacuation plans

News

Europe Justice Health Violence Ukraine

A Ukrainian organisation defending human rights shares its concerns regarding the situation of prisoners.

Source — OMCT

January 6, 2022

Ukraine : Un ancien détenu d’une prison secrète du Donbass raconte

News

Europe Material conditions Torture Ukraine

This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: French

June 17, 2020

Ukraine: COVID-19 has reached prisons

News

Coronavirus Europe Health Ukraine

On 11 March, the Ukrainian government announced a nationwide quarantine, and at the same time its Ministry of Justice changed the rules governing the work of pre-trial detention centres and prison colonies. Meetings with families were banned (video links were permitted) and both staff and inmates h…

Source — openDemocracy

April 21, 2019

Ukraine: los presos votan en la segunda vuelta de las elecciones presidenciales

News

Europe Ukraine

This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: Spanish

December 20, 2018

Ukraine: little has changed

Testimonial

Europe Ukraine

Sergiy was incarcerated during four years between 2001 and 2005 in the prison of Cherkasy.For Prison Insider, he describes how a day used to be like for him. Read more

July 31, 2018

Ukraine's decrepit prisons languish despite promised reform

News

Europe Ukraine

KIEV: Around 20 men are crammed into the foul-smelling cell, where cockroaches wander across the walls and barred windows.

Source — The Time of India

October 31, 2017

Ukraine: monitoring visit in Lviv prison

News

Europe Ukraine

On October 4th, 2017. Prison Insider’s correspondent, Ukraine Without Torture, together with employees from the Secretariat of the Ombudsman undertook a monitoring visit of the Lychakiv correctional center (No. 30). The center is located in the Lviv Oblast (West Ukraine) and holds about 600 prisone…

Source — Ukraine Without Torture

October 30, 2017

"Surviving hell" in Eastern Ukraine

Analysis Report

Europe Justice Torture Violence Ukraine

Prison Insider’s correspondents in Ukraine shared several materials describing the conditions of detention in the Donbas region, in the East of the country. It is composed of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions. Due to the crisis which started in 2014, Ukraine is divided between the so-called pro Europ… Read more

September 6, 2017

Ukraine: guards and prisoners victims of an outdated system

News

Europe Ukraine

The prosecutor’s office informed, on the 17th of August, that a detainee had killed and dismembered an inspector from the State Prison Service at the Odessa Pre-trial Detention Center (SIZO) No. 21. The murder occurred in the SIZO economic block where the prisoner was working.

Source — Ukraine Without Torture

June 19, 2017

Ukraine: anti-torture committee concerned about police ill-treatment and poor conditions of detention of remand and life-sentenced prisoners

News

Europe Torture Ukraine

In the report on its November 2016 visit to Ukraine, published today, the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) expresses serious concern about the frequency of allegations of ill-treatment by police officers (such as slap…

Source — Council of Europe

May 19, 2017

Ukraine: SBU detains corrupt head of penal coloy in Zhytomyr region

News

Europe Ukraine

The SBU Security Service of Ukraine together with the Military Prosecutor’s Office have detained a deputy chief of a penal colony in Zhytomyr region for systematic bribery by taking money from prisoners’ relatives, the SBU reported.

Source — UNIAN

February 23, 2017

Ukraine: Rada on its way to amend so-called "Savchenko law"

News

Europe Ukraine

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has adopted in the first reading the amendments to Article 72 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine on a calculation of prison term actually served by convicts, as the UNIAN correspondent.

Source — UNIAN

October 10, 2016

En Ukraine de l'Est, les prisons se transforment peu à peu en goulags

News

Europe Ukraine

Un récent rapport de l’ONG de protection des droits de l’homme Eastern Human Rights Group a dénoncé les conditions de vie des 5 000 prisonniers qui peuplent les établissements pénitentiaires de l’Est de l’Ukraine, dans les oblasts de Louhansk et Donetsk. Depuis la sécession de ces territoires en 20…

Source — Atlantico

October 9, 2016

Ukrainian wars prisoners languish in limbo on both sides

News

Ukraine

Just three days after Ukrainian soldier Oleksandr Lazarenko was taken prisoner in the war in Ukraine’s east, a peace agreement was signed under which the sides agreed to an “all-for-all” prisoner exchange. A year and a half later, his wife still waits desperately for his return.

Source — Daily mail

August 30, 2016

Ukraine : la torture dans les prisons secrètes

News

Europe Torture Ukraine

This article is not available in English. If you wish, you can consult the French version.

Source — RFI

August 19, 2016

Ukraine: veto on amnesty

News

Europe Ukraine

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko vetoed the law “On amnesty in 2016”. This as an expected decision – even at the early stages, there were rumors at Bankova Street that the Ukrainian leader will go for such step: the bill was drafted very poorly.

Source — UNIAN

July 21, 2016

Ukraine’s security services and rebels are said to be equals in torture

News

Europe Torture Ukraine

A report by two leading human rights groups released on Thursday accuses Ukraine’s Western-backed security services of practicing abuse and torture in a manner similar to that of the rebel groups they are fighting.

Source — New York Times