Despite being declared illegal in early 2008, there is all too much evidence that the notorious "special units" or anti-terrorist units used to intimidate and ill-treat prisoners

Human rights stress the need for a range of measures to ensure that prisoners receive proper medical care, including removing medical staff from under the jurisdiction of the State Penitentiary Service and making changes to the Penal Code and the Law on Pre-Trial Detention;

Measures are planned on 6 October to highlight the grave situation in Ukrainian SIZO [pre-trial detention centres] where people with illnesses, sometimes very serious, are not given proper treatment or moved to the appropriate hospitals

This year the number of people held in SIZO [ore-trial detention centres] and penal institutions rose by around 8,500 inmates. Over the year there was also a 45 percent increase in the number of deaths.

According to Andriy Didenko from the Kharkiv Human Rights Group, bringing former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko to the Pechersky District Court two or three hours before the court hearing could be described as ill-treatment or even torture

Kharkiv Human Rights Group Anti-Torture Programme Coordinator Andriy Didenko spoke to Roman Skrypin on Radio Svoboda about his own experiences and the situation with penal institutions in Ukraine

The Prosecutor General’s Office has ordered the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Prosecutor to reinvestigate the death of a remand prisoner, 27-year-old Viktor Skvortsov who died on 27 January 2011 in the city tuberculosis unit

The President, government and parliament will soon be receiving an appeal to reform the present practice of registering citizens. The appeal was drawn up by participants in a forum of civic organizations entitled “What rights does a person without an internal passport have?”

In 80 out of 151 penal institutions living space does not meet the norms of the Criminal Procedure Code. The situation is also unacceptable in SIZO where people remanded in custody are forced to take turns sleeping due to lack of space.

One official stated that the Prosecutor would be investigating these events, as well as a whole range of other criticisms regarding the rising death rate and incidences of tuberculosis in the colonies, poor cooperation with civic organizations and the press, etc.

Andriy Didenko, KHPG Programme Coordinator, who had received permission on Tuesday to visit the penal institution where prisoners have been on hunger strike following the deployment of a Special Forces unit on 5 July, was on Wednesday not allowed into the colonY

At a press conference on Tuesday, human rights activists provided information they have been able to receive about the beating of prisoners by a Special Forces unit at Penal Colony No. 89 in Dnipropetrovsk on 5 July

Following the unlawful deployment of a unit of Special Force Officers from the State Penitentiary Service on 5 July, a large number of prisoners have officially declared hunger strike

There are reports, unconfirmed but from various sources, that on 5 July Special Force Officers from the State Penitentiary Service beat a large number of prisoners at Colony No. 89 in Dnipropetrovsk.

Problems confronted by people released after imprisonment include the lack of housing, identification papers and official employment. Last year over 37 thousand people were released, but the human rights organization Donetsk Memorial warns that around 20 percent end up back inside

One in four prisoners in Ukraine is behind bars for theft, with this often on a minor scale. There are even people imprisoned for economic offences which in the entire civilized world are punished through fines or confiscation of property

A study presented by the Dnipro Social Research Centre reports a deterioration in the human rights situation in the Dnipropetrovsk region

Representatives of the Kharkiv Human Rights Group insist that an immediate investigation be carried out and information provided about the brutal beating of a number of prisoners held in the Simferopol SIZO [pre-trial detention centre]

Reports have come in from various sources that around 40 Special Forces fighters of the State Penitentiary Service armed with machine guns have been brought into the Simferopol SIZO [Pre-trail detention centre]

Those accused of “exceeding official duties” over the death of a 25-year-old man in Penal Colony No. 42 include the Head of the penal institution