The Ministry of Justice is working on drafting a bill on the penitentiary system. The task is not to implement a court decision and imprison a person. On the contrary, it is to rehabilitate the person so that they do not commit crimes again. This was stated by Deputy Minister of Justice Yevhen Pikalov during the conference "Comprehensive reform of the law enforcement system as a key element of Ukraine's European integration," as reported by UNN correspondent.
New bill on the penitentiary system
If we talk about changes, reforms, and legislative initiatives, the legislation on the State Criminal Executive Service, the relevant law was adopted 20 years ago. It is partly in effect, partly not.
He noted that the Ministry of Justice is working on drafting a bill on the penitentiary system.
One of our priorities, and what we are currently working on, is the preparation of a new draft law on the penitentiary system. We want to move away from this perception, even from this name – the execution of criminal penalties. That is, our task is not to execute a court decision and imprison a person. The task, on the contrary, is to socialize, rehabilitate, provide new skills, knowledge, and teach so that the person does not commit crimes again.
According to him, the bill on the penitentiary system is being prepared to allow and enable a shift from punishment execution to human rehabilitation.
Low salaries for penitentiary system employees
Pikalov noted that the salary in the penitentiary system is the lowest among all institutions and organizations whose employees wear uniforms.
The salary of an ordinary employee of the penitentiary system starts from 12 thousand UAH. This is less than a security guard in a supermarket, but with all due respect, a security guard in a supermarket does not risk contracting hepatitis, tuberculosis, or being killed. Therefore, I am grateful to the Cabinet of Ministers for recently allowing the government to make appropriate additional payments to penitentiary system employees starting from September 1 of this year.
Monitoring the wearing of electronic bracelets
Pikalov said that this year the ministry faces the task of organizing a monitoring center for the wearing of electronic bracelets.
That is, to create a system for monitoring the wearing of electronic bracelets from scratch in the Ministry of Justice. We are currently actively studying the experience of foreign countries, primarily the Netherlands, and domestic ones, primarily the National Police, on how best to do this.