Ensuring the rights and safety of prisoners during the COVID 19 pandemic

Abstract

The article deals with the issue of ensuring the rights and safety of prisoners during the COVID 19 pandemic. Research was conducted on problems in the operation of penal institutions relating to the sanitary and epidemiological well-being of prisoners and the establishment of appropriate hygienic conditions in penal institutions. Some of the results of an anonymous interview of prisoners are cited, which make it possible to conclude that the State Penal Enforcement Service is unable to impose the necessary quarantine measures, as well as being unable to provide adequate medical care to prisoners and ensure their safety in physical isolation during the spread of COVID 19.
 Some of the recommendations that have been drawn up in the international penal correction system and that relate to the introduction of quarantine measures in non-custodial facilities have been analysed, and their justification and enforcement have been considered. The examination of the plans gives the author grounds to argue that only the adoption of relevant normative acts and action plans was ensured in Ukraine, but that the plans themselves were not properly implemented. The author points out that the failure of the Penal Correction Service to introduce and implement these measures is due to a significant underfunding of the needs of penal departments and institutions, as well as to the inadequate implementation of those measures, as provided for in normative acts.
 In his conclusions, the author points out that the practice of the enforcement of criminal sanctions requires the serious and consistent introduction and implementation of the measures provided for in the regulations for the period of quarantine, as well as significant reforms in the medical care of prisoners and adequate funding of such reforms by the State.