There are some 160,000 Ukrainians behind bars, including 1,400 serving life sentences. Among the most widespread crimes (about 50,000 committed every year) are burglaries and premeditated murders. This statistic is from a study entitled Criminal Punishments in Ukraine, which was conducted by the nonprofit human rights organization Donetsk Memorial in collaboration with experts from the Penitentiary Society of Ukraine (PTU) and the Bureau de la cooperation Suisse in Ukraine. Below Oleksandr BUKALOV, the chairman of the council of Donetsk Memorial and the head of the PTU, comments on current trends in Ukraine’s penitentiary system.
What can you tell me about the crime rate these days? Is it on an upward or downward curve?
In 2006 Ukraine’s crime rate was somewhat lower. Compared to the previous year, militia and prosecutor office statistics point to a 13.3 percent decline (428,100 compared to 491,800). This can be partially explained by the improved socioeconomic picture in the country. However, a decrease in Ukraine’s overall crime rate is largely due to a sharp decrease in larceny cases (by 54,500). This situation has resulted from changes to the law, whereby petty larceny is no longer considered a criminal offence. There is also a slight decline (2.9%) in premeditated and attempted murders, maybe because now such crimes are punished by life terms in prison. Unfortunately, drug- trafficking crimes have increased from 13.4 to 15.4 percent.
Which regions of Ukraine are registering the highest crime rate?
The Crimea and Donetsk, Kherson, Zaporizhia, Luhansk, and Mykolaiv oblasts are where the largest number of crimes committed per 100,000 residents. The crime rate is somewhat lower in Ternopil, Zakarpattia, and Volyn oblasts. I believe that the reason is their cultural and mental specifics.
How effectively do you think our law enforcement agencies are combating crime?
It’s hard to describe their effort as effective, primarily because these law enforcement authorities are experiencing hard times - they are underfunded, poorly equipped, and underpaid. This is why in our report we provide statistics on the prosecution of militia officers who have committed crimes. The overall crime rate within the law enforcement community showed the highest level in 1995-6, but it has dropped almost threefold in the past couple of years. In 2006, militia officers were most often prosecuted on charges of involvement in traffic accidents (46.1%), bribe-taking (43.2%), and abuses of office (30.9%).
What achievements can you see in the humanization of criminal punishments?
The Soviet penitentiary system can hardly be described as adequate, considering that petty larcenies - “theft of socialist property,” as legally defined at the time - entailed prison terms of up to 15 years. Today, such crimes - I mean petty theft - can mean two years (compared to five years previously) or a suspended sentence. A fine is an alternative to a prison term.
What is the situation with habitual criminals?
Our statistics show that almost every second criminal, after serving his term, is bound to commit another crime. The main reason is the absence of a social adjustment system for ex-convicts. After serving his term, a convict is left alone to cope with his problems single-handedly: he can’t find a job; he has no home and no social status. Eventually he finds himself on the wrong side of the law again, despite the fact that we have a law on social rehabilitation for people who have served time. In reality, the state mostly helps these people on paper, not in real life.
Are there frequent cases of human rights violations in pretrial isolators and corrective labor colonies?
Violations of prisoners’ rights mostly stem from the mistreatment of prisoners by prison employees. At the same time, prisoners have nowhere to send their complaints. Therefore, we pay special attention in our report to convict-complaint procedures. Unfortunately, our current criminal proceedings are such that convicts cannot file complaints against the prison administration. As a rule, such complaints are sent back to the chief warden, so usually no facts stated in such complaints are confirmed. Even more often local censors do not allow such complaints to go beyond the boundaries of the colony. In view of this, it is necessary to introduce proper changes to the law concerning the procedures of complaints being filed by convicts and detainees.
Your report states that between 700 and 800 inmates die every year in prison. What are the main causes of death?
They are primarily chronic diseases and tuberculosis, although in the past several years the TB mortality rate has shown a certain decline because active measures have been adopted to treat tuberculosis among prison inmates. The suicide rate ranges between 40 and 44 cases a year; that isn’t much, considering that Ukraine has 180 corrective institutions. In contrast, the HIV infection rate is up and rising: almost 4,700 cases have been recorded as of Jan. 1. 2007. This is a twofold increase compared to three years ago and may be explained by trends that exist outside prisons.
Do innocent people often find themselves behind bars?
The assumption that only criminals are thrown behind bars should be called into question, considering that in 2006 the courts issued 910 acquittals. In reality, many more innocent people are detained. Once a person is prosecuted, it is very difficult to prove that s/he is innocent; at best this individual receives a prison term equal to the time already spent in the pretrial isolator. These isolators are supposed to hold people facing a prison term of at least seven or eight years. Every year between 13,000 and 15,000 detainees are released from pretrial isolators. This means that nearly 90 percent of suspects should not have been jailed as a preventative measure.
What should be done to improve our penitentiary system and criminal legal proceedings?
First of all, our Penal Department must become more transparent. Public control over adherence to prisoners’ rights must be carried out by watchdog commissions that are not made up of bureaucrats, as is the case today, but of representatives of civic human rights organizations. Then detainees and convicts will know that their rights are really being protected, while the prison employees will have to think twice before abusing their positions, knowing that their wrongdoings may come to the public’s attention.
