SPERU - Further Support to the Penitentiary 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 Executive Service and its interregional branches, the Parliamentary Assembly, the Supreme Court of Ukraine, the General Prosecutor Office, the Ombudsmen Office and Civil Society organisations and other relevant national stakeholders interested in penitentiary reform in Ukraine.
Thanks to this project, Ukrainian authorities have been assisted in the promotion of Human rights in the management of prisons as well as in the further development of a rehabilitative approach to offenders in line with the Council of Europe standards, in particular those of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture an Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), and taking into account the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights.
The Joint Programme (JP) SPERU achieved the following outcomes:
- enhancement of Justice system actors’ awareness to proceed with the penitentiary reform based on the Council of Europe standards
- partnerships between the justice system, community services and civil society are facilitated to enhance resocialization and reintegration of prisoners
- justice system capacity is enhanced to develop and implement healthcare strategy in prisons
Further support to the reforms in the field of prison and the protection of prisoners’ rights is part of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine 2018-2021.
The project implementation started in July 2019 and ended bewteen October 2021 and April 2022.Project documentation
Useful information
Ukrainian prison reform aims to encourage prisoner labour as central to rehabilitation
European experiences in attracting prisoner labour were presented to the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine and international donors at a hybrid event held on 8 February 2022. The event supported the launching of the Ministry of Justice’s initiative to reform and further develop prison workshops and...
Ukrainian prison staff’s capacity to apply Risk and Needs Assessment tool strengthened
A total of 336 staff from 38 Ukrainian penitentiary institutions underwent an online training “Application of the Risk and Needs Assessment (RNA) tool and individual sentence planning” from May to November 2021. Based on the evaluation of the training results, the prison staff has significantly...
Presentation of the Problem-Solving Rehabilitation Programme in Ukraine
Supporting the Ukrainian prison system in the process of shifting from a punitive to rehabilitative approach is among the Council of Europe's priorities. In that context, efforts are made to address the increasing demand for social rehabilitation programmes within the Ukrainian penitentiary...
Ukraine: improving prison staff’s multidisciplinary skills for better health care
30 prison front-line officers improved their multidisciplinary skills to provide better healthcare to inmates during training organised on 7 October 2021. The event was opened by Ms Natalia Rybalko, Deputy Head of the Department for Execution of Criminal Sanctions and Mr Valeriy Kalivoshko, Head...
Ukraine: improving the role of families in the prisoners’ rehabilitation process
On 4-8 October 2021, a new rehabilitation pilot programme entitled "Keeping Family Ties in Custody" was launched in the Correctional Colonies Nos. 21 (Solonianska) and 34 (Kamjanska), in the Dnipro region, separately for 15 female and 15 male adult prisoners. The programme is designed as...
UKRAINE: updated Guide on Prisoners' Legal Rights presented
On 17 September 2021, an updated Guide on Prisoners' Legal Rights was presented to the Ukrainian national stakeholders (Ministry of Justice, Department for the Execution of Criminal Sanctions, Centre of Probation of Ukraine, Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights, Office of the Prosecutor...
New rehabilitation programmes initiated in the Ukrainian prisons
The Council of Europe continues assisting Ukraine in developing and implementing rehabilitation programmes for prisoners in line with the European standards and best practices. A "Problem Solving as Transferrable Skills for Prisoners" programme was launched in the Correctional Colonies No 64...
Recommendations for improvement of penitentiary inspections presented to the Ukrainian authorities
Practical recommendations to improve the effectiveness of internal penitentiary inspections in Ukraine were presented to the Ministry of Justice at a working group meeting held on 2 July 2021. Central to these recommendations is the aim to make results of penitentiary inspections meaningful and a...
Purchase of consultancy services in order to develop a study on Prison Systems Refocus from Punitive to Rehabilitative Approach in Execution of Criminal Sanctions
The Council of Europe and the European Union are currently implementing Joint Project “Further Support to Penitentiary Reform in Ukraine” (SPERU). Among other things, SPERU focuses on the improvement and development of modern prison management methods and instruments for more rehabilitative...
JP SPERU: third Steering Committee Meeting
The third Steering Committee meeting of the EU and CoE Joint Programme entitled "European Union and Council of Europe working together to strengthening human rights in Ukraine", and notably its third component on the "Support to Prison Reform in Ukraine (JP SPERU)", took place on 16 June 2021,...
Ukraine: Prisoners' rehabilitation programmes to be improved
A Working Group on rehabilitation programmes for Ukrainian prisoners discussed two programmes: "Keeping Family ties in Custody" (the impact of the imprisonment on the prisoner's family aimed at improving self-confidence and maintaining and strengthening relations with family) and "Problem-solving...
Training on the application of RNA for the prison staff in Ukraine to be continued
The Council of Europe continues to support the Ukrainian prison system by improving Prison management and introducing contemporary approaches in line with the best European practices. The Ministry of Justice of Ukraine requested additional training sessions on the application of the Risk and...
Ukraine - draft Code of Ethics for Prison Healthcare Staff ready for adoption
On 29 April 2021, the drafting process of a Code of Ethics for prison healthcare staff in Ukraine was finalised. This Code provides a framework of ethical cornerstones in respect of access to healthcare, the principle of equivalence of care, confidentiality and patient's consent, the prevention...
Ukraine: New training course on multidisciplinary skills for the frontline prison staff
On 28 April 2021, a new training course on multidisciplinary skills for the frontline prison staff was presented to the Ukrainian prison governors. The course consists of four modules addressing all thematic areas of SPERU intervention: (a) suicide awareness, (b) mental health awareness, (c) drug...
Prison healthcare - new training course for the Ukrainian senior prison managers
On 26 April 2021, a new training course on the multidisciplinary approach in prison healthcare delivery was presented to the Ukrainian prison governors. The course consists of three modules/six sessions and aims to facilitate the understanding of the Council of Europe relevant standards and the...
New penitentiary inspection standards for the Ukrainian prisons
The Council of Europe continues supporting the Ukrainian prison system by aligning its legislative and regulatory framework with European standards. On 23 April 2021, a first Working group meeting was held focusing on reviewing and updating the existing penitentiary inspection standards, in...
Ukraine: Guide on Prisoners' Legal Rights updated
The Council of Europe continues supporting the Ukrainian prison system by aligning its legislative and regulatory framework with European standards. On 14 April 2021, a draft updated Guide on Prisoners' Legal Rights was presented to the national partners in an online meeting. Based on the 2016...
Reducing reoffending – online training for the prison staff in Ukraine
The Council of Europe continues supporting the Ukrainian prison system by improving its legislative, regulatory framework and the capacity of prison staff in line with European standards. From 30 March to 27 May 2021, more than 70 staff from six Ukrainian penitentiary institutions will undergo...
Code of Ethics for prison healthcare staff in Ukraine developed and presented
On 26 January, the Code of Ethics for healthcare staff of penitentiary institutions and pre-trial detention centres was presented online to national stakeholders and international partners working on penitentiary reforms. The Code provides a framework of ethical cornerstones in respect of access...
Healthcare in prisons in Ukraine: Recommendations for improvement
On 22 January, the SPERU project presented online a set of recommendations aimed at improving the delivery of healthcare in prisons and the inter-agency cooperation on the matter between the State Department of Execution of Criminal Sanctions of Ukraine and the Centre of Prison Healthcare. The...
Continued support to penitentiary system reform: work on legislation
On 25 January, upon the request of the Minister of Justice of Ukraine, the SPERU project conducted an online presentation of the expert opinions on the draft laws: “On the Penitentiary System of Ukraine” and “On the Disciplinary charter of the penitentiary system of Ukraine”. The high number and...
SPERU: Interactive training course on dynamic security developed
The final version of a training course on “Dynamic security, communication skills, and pro-social modelling” was presented online on 17 December 2020 in Kyiv. The three-day training course was developed to improve professional competencies and skills of the penitentiary staff necessary for the...
Progress towards developing the Code of Ethics for prison healthcare staff: first working group meeting
The 1st meeting of the Working Group on the development of the Code of Ethics for the prison healthcare staff in Ukraine took place online on 3 December 2020. During the meeting, the WG members discussed national and international standards and principles relevant to medical ethics in prison...
SPERU: Second Working Group meeting to develop an interactive training course on Dynamic Security
As a follow-up to the first meeting of 5 October 2020, the working group in charge of developing an interactive training course on Dynamic Security met online on 2 November. The working group discussed the content of first two modules of the training course, namely (i) the concept of Dynamic...
SPERU: First Working Group meeting to develop an interactive training course on Dynamic Security
The first working group meeting to develop an interactive training module on dynamic security took place online on 5 October 2020. Both national and international experts presented a draft training course and an in-depth review of its content. Following relevant CoE Standards, the participants...
JP SPERU: Second Steering Committee Meeting
The Second Steering Committee meeting of the EU and CoE Joint Project "Support to Prison Reform in Ukraine – JP SPERU" took place online on 10 September 2020. It was organised together with two other components of the Joint Programme between the EU and CoE "European Union and Council of Europe...
Council of Europe assists Ukraine in establishing a dual system of regular internal and external penitentiary inspections
The Council of Europe continues its support to Ukraine in the process of reforming the penitentiary system. At the request of the Minister of Justice of Ukraine, the Council of Europe provided, on 4 September 2020, expert opinion on the Ukrainian draft Law “On the establishment of the dual system...
Online Round table on execution of the ECtHR judgements in respect of the penitentiary system in Ukraine
On 27 August 2020, an online discussion “In search of effective domestic remedies to address systemic problems in the penitentiary system of Ukraine” was organised in cooperation with the Council of Europe Department for the Execution of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights for...
2017 Guidelines for the Prevention of Suicidal Behaviour Updated
The 2017 Ukrainian Guidelines and the Strategy for the Prevention of Suicidal Behaviour were updated to provide modern and in line with European standards methods to ensure effective monitoring and prevention of suicide and self-harm. On 18 June 2020, the updated Guidelines and Strategy were...
Consolidated Analysis of the CPT recommendations to Ukraine is Available
Since 1998, the CPT organised 15 periodic and ad hoc visits to Ukraine in order to monitor the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty, among others, in the penitentiary establishments. The reports published following those visits disclosed serious shortcomings within the Ukrainian...
European Prison Rules
CPDL Highlights
