Home confinement replaced with penal colonies en masse: the reasons and who it affects

What can be a violation of the regulations of serving a sentence? 

1. The convicted person not fulfilling their duties. For example, to ensure unhindered entry into their home to the employees of the Department of Internal Affairs who control the convict; to have calls with employees; to appear on the call of employees, etc. Read about all 17 duties in full: Part 2, Article 48-1 of the Penal Enforcement Code;
2. Violation of prohibitions, for example, attending cultural events where people can drink alcohol or other people's houses; refusing work offered by the Committee on Labor, Employment, and Social Protection, etc. Read about all six prohibitions in full: Part 5 of Article 48-1 of the Penal Enforcement Code;
3. Violation of industrial, technological, performance, and labor discipline; 
4. The commission of disciplinary violations by convicted students;
5. Bringing convicts to administrative responsibility for committing administrative offenses against public order, for example, "unauthorized picketing" (Article 24.23 of the Administrative Code) or "dissemination of extremist materials" (Article 19.11 of the Administrative Code);
6. Other administrative offenses punishable by an administrative penalty in the form of administrative arrest, for example, "disobeying the requirements of law enforcement officers" (Article 24.3 of the Administrative Code);
7. Failure to comply with the prohibition to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities, such as driving a car.

What are the possible penalties? 

1. A reprimand is the first and lightest punishment applied for less serious violations. The convicted person receives an official warning about the need to comply with the established regulations.
2. Deprivation of the right to leave one's house on weekends and holidays. This measure is applied to those convicts who were allowed to leave their house on weekends and holidays as an incentive. In case of violation of the regulations, this permit can be revoked, which restricts the rights of the convicted person even on days when they should not work.
3. Disciplinary isolation for up to 15 days. For more serious violations, a convicted person can be placed in a temporary detention facility, which is essentially equivalent to a punitive isolation cell. This measure includes the possibility of detention without letting out to work or study. 

If the staff of the penal enforcement inspectorate recognizes the convicted person as a malicious violator, the punishment may be replaced by the court by a stricter one, i. e. imprisonment in a penal colony.

When is a convicted person considered a malicious violator?

By analogy with Article 411 of the Criminal Code, if a convicted person has at least three penalties for violations, they may be recognized as a malicious violator. In this case, the convicted person is given an official warning about the replacement of the restriction of freedom with a stricter punishment, including imprisonment. Until the entry into force of a court decision on the replacement of punishment, the convicted person may be detained for up to 30 days with the approval of the prosecutor.

If an employee of the penal enforcement inspectorate assessed the actions of a convicted person as malicious evasion from serving a sentence, then they can issue an official warning to them about replacing the punishment with a stricter one. If any other violation is noticed after this warning, then the case may be referred to the court to replace the punishment with a more serious one.

What is considered malicious evasion of serving a sentence? 

1. Failure to appear home at the specified time without valid reasons* if the convicted person leaves their home without permission or does not return on time, this is considered a serious violation.
   * There are cases when people who had valid reasons, for example, related to health or to appeals and working hours of the post office, were still not allowed to leave. Thus, essentially valid reasons were not recognized as such. 
2. Violation of the regulations after an official warning. If the convicted person continues to violate the regulations of serving their sentence after an official warning, their actions are considered malicious.
3. Refusal to wear or damaging electronic monitoring devices, i. e. if the convicted person refuses to wear or intentionally damages electronic monitoring devices tracking their location.

Who decides to apply punishments and incentives and how? 

The head of the Penal Enforcement Inspectorate and the Deputy head of the Internal Affairs body is authorized to reprimand and deprive of the right to leave one's house on weekends and holidays. The head of the territorial body of internal affairs, and their deputy in their absence, may also decide on disciplinary isolation for up to 15 days. 

According to Part 4 of Article 56 of the Penal Enforcement Code, when making a decision on the application of a penalty, the circumstances of the violation, the personality and previous behavior of the convicted person must be taken into account, as well as the severity of the violation must correspond to the punishment. 

The penalty must be imposed no later than 30 days from the date of the violation.

Penalties must be applied no later than 30 days.

What is the term of imprisonment that remains to be served?

The unserved part of the punishment replaced by imprisonment is calculated this way: two days of restriction of freedom are equal to one day of imprisonment (Part 8 of Article 55 of the Criminal Code).