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

PROJECT NEWS

Back 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 increased their capacity to apply the RNA tool and practical skills on developing individual sentence planning for sentenced offenders, providing it a follow up and thus increasing the prospect of rehabilitation of the offenders.

The main results of the training for prison staff on RNA tool were presented to the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine and the State Department of Execution of Criminal Sanctions (SDECSU) on 3 December 2021.

Ms Olena Vysotska, Deputy Minister of Justice, welcomed this training that will assist in changing deep-rooted practices in prison management through immediate training delivery and expressed her further support. Mr Serhii Hrechaniuk, Head of the SDECSU, also underlined the benefits of RNA trainings and requested additional training for the next year.

This activity is organized within the framework of the EU and Council of Europe Joint Project "Support to Prison Reform in Ukraine - SPERU", which is designed to promote human rights compliant management of prisons, including better alignment of prison healthcare provisions with European standards.

Ukraine 17 December 2021