The Nature of Prison Reform in Ukraine: Policy, Penological Nihilism and Threats to the Rehabilitation Paradigm

DOI: 10.46340/eppd.2023.10.6.1

Dmytro Yagunov, D.Sc. in Political Science, Ph.D. in Public Administration, MSSc in Criminal Justice
Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
Vasyl Stus Donetsk National University, Vinnytsia, Ukraine

How to cite: Yagunov, D. (2023). The Nature of Prison Reform in Ukraine: Policy, Penological Nihilism and Threats to the Rehabilitation Paradigm. European Political and Law Discourse, 10, 6, 5-15. DOI: 10.46340/eppd.2023.10.6.1

Abstract

The article contains a critical analysis of prison and probation reforms in Ukraine that have been implemented since 1991. The author emphasizes the main thesis that prison reform cannot be narrowed down to “improving the conditions of prisoners in prisons” and “improving the material conditions of prisons”. Instead, prison and probation reform is a comprehensive improvement of the public administration of the prison and probation system and a rethinking of the mission of the prison system, where the emphasis should be on transparency, public policy analysis and proper evaluation of the criteria of public policy in the sphere of prisons and probation.

The author emphasizes that the Ukrainian prison and probation system still does not have a clear program document developed according to established public policy criteria, and therefore the mission of the prison system is not properly identified. This situation, in turn, leads to a gap, firstly, between the aims of the judicial system and the aims of the prison system. Additionally, it leads to a gap between the declared and real aims of the prison system itself. Moreover, a large gap exists between the expectations of taxpayers who fund the prison and probation system and the actual social and criminological consequences of its activities.

The article emphasizes that there are currently no indicators for assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of the Ukrainian prison system that have been developed systematically and dynamically. The evaluation of prison and probation policy through the recidivism rate is formally criticized, but no alternatives to this indicator are proposed. At the same time, the real recidivist rates after prison and probation supervision are in the “shadows”. Therefore, we cannot evaluate the processes and results of prison and probation reforms by this indicator, which, even if declared occasionally, is clearly fragmented.

The public administration of the prison system of Ukraine in its current form remains mostly a rather chaotic activity aimed at “streamlining the execution of criminal sentences”, but has not yet become a sphere of “development and implementation of public policy in the field of execution of criminal sentences”.

Ukrainian penal science in its current form is characterized by its deep declarative nature, excessive formalism, attachment to outdated quasi-methods of scientific knowledge, detachment from the practical needs of the penitentiary system, and sometimes simply from reality. The alternation of “approaches,” “methods,” and scholastic evaluations of Soviet (both in time and in spirit) dissertations does not advance national penal science, which continues to be captive to formal views of prison.

Within the framework of modern penal science, prison continues to be covered mainly as a structural part of the formal law enforcement system, which is supposedly not influenced by economic factors and does not form part of the system of modern social control, which actually detaches penitentiary science from reality.

Keywords: Ukraine, prison and probation reform, prison system, recidivism rates, penal science, conditions of detention, goals of punishment, rehabilitation paradigm, aims of punishment, social control, European Court of Human Rights, torture, European Committee for the Prevention of Torture.

References

  1. Cohen, S. (1985). Visions of Social Control. Crime, Punishment and Classification. Polity Press in association with BlackweU Publishers Ltd.
  2. CPT (2020). Report on the visit to Moldova, 28 January – 07 February 2020, Para 40, 25.
  3. U.S. Department of State. (2023). 2023 Trafficking in Persons Report: Ukraine <www.state.gov/reports/2023-trafficking-in-persons-report/ukraine> (2023, жовтня, 01).
  4. Yagunov, D. (2014). Morality of penal theories in the XXI century. European political and law discourse, 1(6), 30-37.
  5. Yagunov, D., Gamzyan, A., Haverkamp, R. (2023). Human Trafficking in Ukraine According to Police Statistics (January 2006 – May 2023). Politology Bulletin, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, 89, 367-382.
  6. Yagunov, D., Kuryliuk, Y., Chernousov, A., Haverkamp, R. (2023). Human Trafficking in Ukraine and Satellite Crimes: Transformation of Criminological Indicators (January 2006 – April 2023). European Political and Law Discourse, 10(3), 5-38;
  7. Bauman, Z. (2004). Globalizatsiya. Posledstviya dlya cheloveka i obshchestva [Globalization. Consequences for individuals and society]. Moscow. [in Russian].
  8. Burgess, E. (2010). Zavodnoy apelsin [A Clockwork Orange]. Moscow: AST: Astrel. [in Russian].
  9. Kubantsev, S. (2005). Terapevticheskaya yurisprudentsiya: amerikanskaya model [Therapeutic jurisprudence: the American model]. Pravo i polítika [Law and politics], 8, 69-77. [in Russian].
  10. Nietzsche, F. (2012). Padeniye kumirov [The fall of idols]. SPb: ABC, ABC-Atticus. [in Russian].
  11. Spencer, G. (2013). Sotsialnaya statika [Social statics]. Kyiv: Gama-Print. [in Russian].
  12. Foucault, M. (2011). Bezopasnost, territoriya, naseleniye. Kurs lektsiy, prochitannykh v Kolledzh de Frans v 1977-1978 uch. g. [Security, territory, population. Course of lectures given at the College de France in the 1977-1978 academic year]. St. Petersburg. [in Russian].
  13. Yagunov, D. (2007). Alternatyvni sanktsiyi v suchasnomu penal’nomu landshafti: tendentsiyi, problemy ta perspektyvy [Alternative sanctions in the modern penal landscape: trends, problems and prospects]. Aktualni problemy polityky [Actual problems of politics], 30, 204-211. [in Ukrainian].
  14. Yagunov, D. (2008). A. Hlobalizatsiya probatsiyi abo hlobalizatsiya sotsialnoho kontrolyu? Perspektyvy rozvytku kontseptsiyi probatsiyi u XXI st. [A. Globalization of probation or globalization of social control? Prospects for the development of the concept of probation in the 21st century]. Aktualni problemy polityky [Actual problems of politics], 34, 115-121. [in Ukrainian].
  15. Yagunov, D. (2010). «Kryza reabilitatsiynoho idealu» v naukovykh pratsyakh Roberta Martinsona ta yikh znachennya dlya formuvannya suchasnoyi penalnoyi polityky [“The crisis of the rehabilitation ideal” in the scientific works of Robert Martinson and their significance for the formation of modern penal policy]. Pivdennoukrayinskyi pravnychyy chasopys [South Ukrainian legal journal], 4, 28-30. [in Ukrainian].
  16. Yagunov, D. (2010). Katehoriya «nebezpechnyy zlochynets» u suchasnomu kryminalnomu zakonodavstvi zarubizhnykh krayin [The category of “dangerous criminal” in modern criminal legislation of foreign countries]. Aktualni problemy polityky [Actual problems of politics], 39, 352-361. [in Ukrainian].
  17. Yagunov, D. (2010). Filosofiya probatsiyi: transformatsiya pohlyadiv na sutnist ta tsili povodzhennya zi zlochyntsyamy (period do 1990-kh rokiv) [Philosophy of Probation: Transforming Views on the Nature and Purpose of Criminal Treatment (Pre-1990s Period)]. Aktualni problemy polityky [Actual problems of politics], 40, 175-183. [in Ukrainian].
  18. Yagunov, D. (2011). Zahalna preventsiya yak meta pokarannya (filosofsko-pravovyy ta kryminolohichnyy analiz) [General prevention as a goal of punishment (philosophical-legal and criminological analysis)]. Aktualni problemy yevropeyskoyi intehratsiyvy [Actual problems of European integration], 6, 84-114. [in Ukrainian].
  19. Yagunov, D. (2011). Reabilitatsiya zlochyntsiv yak meta pokarannya: atavizm abo vymushena neobkhidnist? [Rehabilitation of criminals as a goal of punishment: atavism or forced necessity?] Aktualni problemy derzhavy i prava [Actual problems of the state and law], 60, 145-153. [in Ukrainian].
  20. Yagunov, D. (2011). Filosofiya probatsiyi: transformatsiya pohlyadiv na sutnist ta tsili povodzhennya zi zlochyntsyamy (period pislya 1990-kh rokiv) [Philosophy of Probation: Transforming Views on the Nature and Purpose of Criminal Treatment (Post-1990s Period)]. Aktualni problemy polityky [Actual problems of politics], 41, 198-207. [in Ukrainian].
  21. Yagunov, D. (2013). Transformatsiya modulyatsiy kryminal’noho pokarannya: vid zakonnosti do ubezpechennya (filosofs’ko-pravovyy analiz [Transformation of modulations of criminal punishment: from legality to security (philosophical and legal analysis)]. Aktualni problemy polityky [Actual problems of politics], 49, 218-228. [in Ukrainian].
  22. Yagunov, D. (2017). 95 tez: dysput shchodo sutnosti ta spryamovanosti penitentsiarnoyi reformy (z nahody 500-richchya tez doktora Martina Lyutera, predstavlenykh u Vittenberzi roku 1517-ho) [95 theses: a debate on the essence and direction of penitentiary reform (on the occasion
    of the 500th anniversary of the theses of Dr. Martin Luther presented in Wittenberg in 1517)].
    European political and law discourse, 4(2), 257-263. [in Ukrainian].
  23. Yagunov, D. (2018). Mistychno-relihiyni zasady suchasnoho ukrayins’koho penitentsiarnoho menedzhmentu [Mystical and religious foundations of modern Ukrainian penitentiary management]. European political and law discourse, 5(3), 61-67. [in Ukrainian].
  24. Yagunov, D. (2018). Сучасний стан та перспективи пробації в Україні: до питання філософії, цілей та показників. European political and law discourse, 5(4), 205-215. [in Ukrainian].
  25. Yagunov, D. (2019). Пенітенціарна політика в Україні (2015-2019): результати, виклики та порядок денний нової реформи. European political and law discourse, 6(3), 160-169.
    [in Ukrainian].
  26. Yagunov, D. (2020). Penitentsiarna polityka yak skladova sotsialnoho kontrolu [Penitentiary policy
    as a component of social control]. Odesa: Phoenix. [in Ukrainian].
  27. Yagunov, D. (2020). Punityvne misto postmodernu: do pytannya pro dyspersiyu sotsial’noho kontrolyu u XXI stolitti [The postmodern punitive city: to the question of the dispersion of social control
    in the 21st century]. Politychne zhyttya [Political life], 3, 34-50. [in Ukrainian].
  28. Yagunov, D. (2020). Sex offenders u politytsi sotsial’noho kontrolya: do pytannya pro reaktualizatsiyu kontseptsiyi nebezpechnoho stanu osoby [Sex offenders in the policy of social control: to the question of reactualization of the concept of a dangerous state of the person]. Visnyk Penitentsiarnoyi asotsiatsiyi Ukrayiny [Bulletin of the Penitentiary Association of Ukraine], 3(13), 115-129. [in Ukrainian].
  29. Yagunov, D. (2020). Reforma penitentsiarnoyi systemy Ukrayiny (2015 – 2020): quidquid agis, prudenter agas et respice finem [Reform of the penitentiary system of Ukraine (2015 – 2020): quidquid agis, prudenter agas et respice finem]. European political and law discourse, 7(3), 47-58. [in Ukrainian].
  30. Yagunov, D. (2020). Ukrayinska penitentsiarna polityka (1991-2020): uzahalnennya modulyatsiy ta otsinka osnovnykh pokaznykiv [Ukrainian penitentiary policy (1991-2020): generalization of modulations and assessment of main indicators]. European political and law discourse, 7(5), 109-158. [in Ukrainian].
  31. Yagunov, D. (2021). Katuvannya yak element sotsialnoho kontrolyu u KHKHI stolitti (politychni ta pravovi aspekty) [Torture as an element of social control in the 21st century (political and legal aspects)]. Politychne zhyttya [Political life], 1, 66-83. [in Ukrainian].

Comments are closed.