Ensuring security in penal institutions

Abstract

The author points out that today in the practical and scientific environment there is a doctrine which states that security in penal institutions consists of three components: dynamic, physical and procedural. The elements of physical security provide for the peculiarities of penal institutions construction taking into account the possibility of proper convicts’ protection and supervision, the possibility of ensuring an adequate level of security for both convicts and other persons, reducing the impact of criminogenic contamination on convicts. Procedural security, which provides for the creation of a system of regulatory and legal support for the process of execution and serving a sentence, preventive measures in order to prevent violations of the regime in penal institutions, ensuring convicts’ isolation, pass control, etc. Dynamic security is a special type of management of a penal institution, which is based on the principles of organizing criminal-executive and preventive activities related to the relationships between the staff of penal institutions and convicts. Despite the three components of this type of activity, special attention is paid only to dynamic security, which negatively affects the functioning of the entire system, the purpose of which is to correct and re-socialize convicts, ensure security in penal institutions, reduce post-penitentiary criminality. With this purpose, it is necessary to focus attention on the following areas of reforming the penitentiary system of Ukraine: using solitary confinement at night, building new penal institutions in accordance with the positive practice of other countries; reformatting national criminal-executive legislation, especially in the field of applying preventive measures; establishing approbation supervision over persons who are released from penal institutions; reducing the level of staff turnover in the State Criminal and Executive Service of Ukraine. Key words: penal institution, security, convict, physical, procedural, dynamic security.