SPERU+ Further Support the Prison Reform in Ukraine

This project was co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and 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.

SPERU+ aligns with the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine “Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction” 2023-2026. Particularly, the Project addressed the 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), SPERU+ strategically leverages the reform objectives outlined in Ukraine's "Strategy for Penitentiary Reform 2021-2026." The overarching goal was the creation of a humane penitentiary system that facilitates the social reintegration of inmates, through the following:

Further revision of existing/introduction of new principles of modern prison management, in line with Council of Europe standards and best practices, including addressing shortcomings identified in ECtHR judgements against Ukraine.
Improvement of the application of rehabilitation approaches and instruments to shift from a punitive to a more rehabilitative regime.

The project implementation ended in December 2023.

Project documentation

Work plan (September - December 2023)

Useful information

Project news

Back High-level expert roundtable on involvement of convicts in labour

Nino LAPACHI

Modified 2 Years ago.

@ Council of Europe

On 9 November 2023, a high-level expert roundtable was held in Lviv to discuss the issues of involvement of convicts in labour, as well as to present a draft Law of Ukraine “On amending certain legislative acts of Ukraine (regarding the peculiarities of involving convicts in labour, and economic operations in the penitentiary system)”.

The event gathered members of the Parliament of Ukraine, senior officials of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), representatives of the Department of Criminal Sentences, Lviv Regional Military Administration, Industrial Chamber and local business.

The speakers emphasized the importance of legislative initiatives aimed at modernising the manufacturing capacities of the prison system and stimulating cooperation between business and penitentiary institutions, thus increasing the labour resources of Ukraine and improving the conditions of detention of convicts.

The MoJ presented the draft law and underlined that the work of convicts is an important element of resocialization, the idea of which permeates the entire Penitentiary Reform Strategy till 2026. The Council of Europe, in its turn, presented an expert analysis of the draft Law and recommendations to it based on best European practices.

The high-level expert roundtable was followed by a regional meeting with senior managers of the Western Prison Administration and heads of penitentiary institutions of the region, who agreed that the work of prisoners should be considered exclusively as the main element of preparation for their reintegration into society.

The participants also visited Lviv pretrial detention centre (SIZO) and Drohobych prison to get acquainted with prison workshops and existing manufacturing capacities for employment there.

These activities were organized within the framework of the EU and CoE Joint Project ”Support to the prison reform in Ukraine Plus (SPERU+)”.

Ukraine 15 November 2023