Are prisoners not people?
Human rights activists demand transparent sentences execution system
The Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, the civic organization Donetsk Memorial, and the Penitentiary Society of Ukraine have forwarded a letter to President Viktor Yushchenko, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, and Parliamentary Speaker Arsenii Yatseniuk, directing their attention to numerous human rights violations in Ukrainian penal institutions and the inability to bring those responsible to justice because the penitentiary system remains closed to society.
Yevhen Zakharov, the head of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, told The Day that they had to resort to this measure because of the total lawlessness reigning in Ukraine’s penal institutions. He said that prison beatings have become standard practice. “Convicts can be punished for anything: an improperly made bed, not sleeping after lights out, not being dressed according to regulations. For such petty infractions prisoners can receive several days and nights in the punishment cell. Especially severe punishments are meted out to those who file complaints, which are then sent back for consideration to the very people named in these complaints. When I was studying this question, in response to my inquiry the administration of the Department for Sentences Execution informed me that 500 complaints about the personnel of penal institutions have been received, but none have been confirmed. This is further proof that the real situation in our penitentiaries is being kept secret.”
In their letter to Ukraine’s leaders the human rights activists also expose the activities of the department’s special antiterrorist unit. “This unit, known among the prisoners as the ‘masked show,’ is meant to intimidate them. During surprise cell searches the members of the unit, wearing masks and full antiriot gear (clubs, flak jackets, and tear gas canisters), burst in shouting, ‘Everyone on the floor!’ Then they start stomping on the convicts, kicking them, and beating them with their clubs. Then they make the prisoners do sit-ups and push-ups, while others ransack their personal effects, mixing sugar with tobacco and soap powder and emptying cans of tea or coffee on the floor. In a word, they torment inmates any way they please. We have written testimonies indicating that the Spetsnaz soldiers have been armed and had police dogs with them, and that they claimed to be acting on behalf of the president of Ukraine. Prisoners who dare file complaints suffer the worst,” said Oleksandr Bukalov, the head of the council of the Donetsk Memorial civic organization.
Former prisoner Pavlo Panych is one of those who mustered the courage to tell the truth about what is going on in Ukraine’s penal colonies. After his telephone conversation with the mother of another prisoner, the woman forwarded a complaint to Ukraine’s leaders.
“When the colony’s administration received a letter from Yulia Tymoshenko requesting that the situation be investigated, I immediately received 15 days in the punishment cell. After that they wanted me to take back my statement about human rights violations. They beat me up, twisted my handcuffed arms, tortured me on the “stretcher”, and administered psychotropic agents,” Panych recalled his gruesome experiences.
Proof that all is not well in the Department for Sentences Execution is found in the results of last year’s audit, which uncovered cases of financial abuse. According to Oleksandr Betsa, an independent penitentiary expert, the Tenders Chamber alone uncovered violations of current legislation to the tune of 217.98 million hryvnias: “Every year the department’s budget is increased by 30 percent while the number of convicts drops by 10 percent, without any improvements in their diet or health care.
Penitentiaries must not turn into lawless institutions; they must become transparent for society. This is the key idea of the human rights activists’ message to Ukraine’s political leadership. It is hoped that their letter will not be a “voice in the wilderness,” and that it will draw our leaders’ attention to this acute and painful problem. As it is, Ukrainians cannot imagine anything more terrible than our prisons.
