Prison reform in Ukraine: some analytical notes and recommendations

Abstract

Jy 18 May, 2016, the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine abolished the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine (the SPS) as central executive body/ The Government decided: 1) to abolish the State Penitentiary Service and put all tasks and functions of state prison and probation policy on the Ministry oj Justice of Ukraine in sphere of the public prison and probation policy. The reform had led to radical and sometimes unexpected changes in the public administration of the penitentiary system of Ukraine. The question is whether these changes would lead to positive results/ The prison reform of Fabruary - May 2016 (taken as whole, and on the example of certain areas) has more than sufficient reasons to be evaluated critically, and sometimes extremely critically. This paper is focused on research of different directions of the prison reform announced by the Ministry of Justice 2016.