Ukraine in top ten by the number of prison inmates

Sanctions as an Alternative to Prison Terms was the motto under which a seminar was held at the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, involving Council of Europe representatives. At the closing news conference, the CE delegation pointed no accusing fingers at the Ukrainian side for being slow in repealing capital punishment and adjusting the domestic penitentiary system to the European standard. While the capital punishment issue is sufficiently disputable in view of the current public opinion, something definitely must be done about the penitentiary system. Statistics cited by CE officials were quite eloquent.

In Ukraine, the number of prison inmates is three times that in Poland (referred to as Europe’s statistical average). In 1998, according to the CE, Ukraine held 211,586 inmates (415 per 100,000 residents) and still ranks in the top ten (after Russia, the US, Belarus, and China). Ministry of Justice statistics say 37.5% of the defendants receive prison terms (compared to Europe’s 5-9%). When asked by The Day, CE expert Roy Walmsley suggested that commuting sentences does not cause an increase in the crime rate. Ukrainian Supreme Court Justice Stanislav Myshchenko agreed, adding that in the USSR harsher sentences in certain groups of criminal cases did not always cause a decrease in a given category of felonies, but more often than not boosted the crime rate in others. In addition, Ukrainian penitentiaries are what Mr. Walmsley describes as universities for criminals, a situation facilitated by the gruesome conditions inside prison. His colleague, Christopher Flugge, has information to the effect that Ukrainian prisons receive a mere 37% of the government subsidies due them. Also, Ukrainian penitentiaries are a source of disease, particularly tuberculosis, and unemployment, considering the inmates being released in due time. Finally, the maintenance of prisons and inmates is an additional burden on the Ukrainian taxpayer’s heavy laden shoulders.

Council of Europe and Ministry of Justice experts see a solution to the problem in simplifying police work and courtroom procedures, reducing the practice of pretrial detention (although the Internal Affairs Ministry and Prosecutor’s Office have their reasons to object to this), better cooperation between executive and law enforcement authorities. At the same time everybody is aware that such changes cannot be effected without creating a more viable economy and better socioeconomic realities (this was stressed in particular by Vyacheslav Borysov, director of the Research Institute for Criminology under Ukraine’s Academy of Juridical Sciences), and bringing about changes in the very attitude of society toward both criminals and the very possibility to commit crimes against persons or property.