Evaluation of a project by Depaul Ukraine to develop a 3-year prison pathway through-the-gate pilot project in Ukraine

Depaul Ukraine has obtained funding to develop a three year project to provide basic resettlement services in prisons in the Kharkiv and Odessa regions of Ukraine. The project includes an evaluation of the operational and wider political and social impact of the project, and the identification of lessons that can be applied elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe

Prisons or 'penal colonies' in Ukraine are transitioning from harsh Soviet style institutions focussed on punishment to prisons based on international standards with an important rehabilitation function. There is still a long way to go and many of these institutions remain harsh and degrading places. The Depaul project arises from the identification of high numbers of former prisoners amongst the street homeless people who are their primary clients. The prisons projects aims to address prisoners basic resettlement needs in order to prevent so many becoming homeless and contribute to wider policy and cultural changes in the Ukrainian prison system. The evaluation is taking place over the three year life of the project and aims to establish how far the project has met its objectives, identify any blockages and how they might be overcome and establsih lessons that could be applied in other developing prison systems in Central and Eastern Europe.

In progress