This project is implemented by the Council of Europe in co-operation with the main partners, namely the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, the State Department of Execution of Criminal Sanctions and other relevant national stakeholders of the penitentiary system in Ukraine.

DECOPRIS is implanted under the auspices of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine “Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction” 2023-2026. Particularly, the Project addresses the Action Plan’s objective of ‘continued support to the authorities in building modern prison and probation systems with a focus on shifting from punitive to rehabilitative approaches in the context of war and post-war recovery period’.

Building upon the successes of the EU and CoE Joint Project "Support the Prison Reform in Ukraine" (JP SPERU), the EU and CoE Joint Project "Support the Prison Reform in Ukraine Plus" (JP SPERU+), and 11 years of co-operation under the Pompidou Group’s Criminal Justice and Health in Prison Programme, DECOPRIS strategically leverages the reform objectives outlined in Ukraine's "Strategy for Penitentiary Reform 2021-2026." 

The overarching goal is to improve conditions and treatment of detainees in Ukraine in line with CoE standards, through the following:

1. Adopting contemporary instruments on effective prison management by penitentiary system’s decision- and policy-makers.
2. Promoting dynamic security approaches to prison management and operational staff and increasing their capacity to maintain positive relationships with the inmates with focus on the prevention of ill treatment and torture in prisons.
3. Developing and enhancing prison management and operational staff capacity to apply new rehabilitation tools and programs that facilitate detainee’s rehabilitation and preparation for release.
4. Preparing correctional and healthcare staff to implement new programmes targeting detained people with substance use disorders. 
5. Understanding the benefits of a comprehensive drug treatment system in custodial settings and elaborating plans for its sustainable implementation.

The project implementation covers the period 18 December 2023 - 17 December 2026.