BROSHKO I. Criminal-executive Principles of Material and Living Conditions for Persons Sentenced to Imprisonment in Ukraine

The dissertation develops and provides a theoretical substantiation of the criminal-executive principles of material and living conditions for persons sentenced to imprisonment in Ukraine with the formulation of practice-oriented proposals and recommendations. In the course of the research of the state of development of the issue of criminal-executive principles of material and living conditions for persons sentenced to imprisonment, it has been established that in the national criminal-executive science scientists have not proposed a definition of material and living conditions for persons sentenced to imprisonment. It is also not formulated in the Criminal Executive Code of Ukraine. Therefore, its consideration at the monographic level confirms the validity of the choice of the research topic “Criminal-Executive Principles of Material and Living Conditions for Persons Sentenced to Imprisonment in Ukraine”. The study of the methodology for researching the criminal-executive principles of material and living conditions for persons sentenced to imprisonment has shown that the priority methods of such research are sociological, expert survey, historical and comparative, comparative legal and systemic. This approach made it possible to show the interrelated subsystems of research methods and their elements. The author formulates the definition of the methodology for studying the criminal-executive principles of material and living conditions for persons sentenced to imprisonment as a system of scientific knowledge about the methods, techniques, and means that constitute a set of rational ways of improving material and living conditions for persons sentenced to imprisonment which have been tested in practice in the field of execution and serving of criminal sentences. Using the historical and legal method, the author distinguishes three periods of formation and development of the institute of material and living conditions for persons sentenced to imprisonment, namely: 1) pre-revolutionary (from the formation of the first centralized state entity – Kyivan Rus on the territory of modern Ukraine until 1917); 2) Soviet (1917-1991); 3) modern (dates back to 1991 and continues to this day). Each of the three periods is characterized. The author formulates the concept of “material and living conditions for convicts” as a purposeful activity of the administration of penitentiary bodies and institutions in cooperation with other social institutions aimed at meeting basic (compared to the conditions of life in freedom) needs, which ensures the exercise by convicts of several non-property rights (to housing, to respect for their dignity, to an adequate standard of living, etc.) in the course of serving sentences involving restriction of personal freedom. It has been substantiated that the social purpose of material and living conditions for persons sentenced to imprisonment is based on the constitutional right of a person to an adequate standard of living while taking into account the specifics of the criminal executive sphere with its inherent subject matter and method of legal regulation. Based on the results of the research, the author identifies and discloses social factors, dividing them into certain classification groups that reflect the social purpose of material and living conditions for persons sentenced to imprisonment, namely: 1) socio-legal; 2) economic; 3) international; 4) criminological; 5) criminal-executive. Among the functions of material and living conditions for persons sentenced to imprisonment are the following: 1) humanistic; 2) health-improving; 3) correctional and re-socialization; 4) punitive; 5) supporting. The research results made it possible to substantiate proposals to permit convicts to equip special places for preparing light meals from products purchased at their own expense or received in the form of parcels and packages. The author substantiates the need to amend the Criminal Executive Code of Ukraine in terms of enshrining the right of penitentiary administrations to purchase services (outsourcing) for catering or other services following the procedure established by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine. Several regulatory legal acts in the area of material and living conditions for persons sentenced to imprisonment have been improved in terms of supplementing the rules for the provision of detergents and disinfectants, expanding the list of foodstuffs, products and substances that convicts may receive in parcels (packages), purchase in penitentiary institutions’ shops and keep with them; it is proposed to grant convicts the right to purchase food and beverages (except for alcohol, low-alcohol drinks and beer, alcohol-based products, and energy drinks) via the Internet at their own expense through cashless payments including delivery of ready meals.