The Legal and Illegal Use of Force by Prison Officers in Ukraine

Abstract

Although prison order rarely rests on naked force, its availability defines a prison. A penological truism holds that officers' deployment of force signals a breakdown in order, not normality. However, is the truism universally valid? Adding evidence from a former Soviet bloc country, the study examines the place of force in officers' daily work in a men's medium-security prison in Ukraine. Drawing on a semiethnographic study, the findings show that even though availability of force was central to preventing escapes and securing prisoner compliance, its actual deployment was relatively rare. Officers' consideration and actual use of both legal and illegal force depended on legal ramifications, the position of the superiors, and prisoner reaction. It also reflected their views on the adequacy of formal penal power and legitimacy of force for corrective purposes.

Untrustworthy subjects? Risks, blame and gradual prison release in Ukraine

“…Although some officers and managers in my study expressed quite punitive views, including the need to use harsher punishments and re-introduce the death penalty (for example, Symkovych, 2019), none was against the gradual release scheme in principle. Furthermore, several officers believed that, once a prisoner is transferred, he decreases his allegiance to the informal prisoner society, or, as several officers said, has 'burned the bridges' with the underworld.…”

“…As I detail elsewhere, the selected samples represented the overall diversity, in terms of their characteristics, as well as their experiences and opinions (for more information about the prison and data collection and analysis, see Symkovych, 2017Symkovych, , 2018aSymkovych, , 2018bSymkovych, , 2018d. These formal interviews, lasting from two to six hours, complemented the data collected through months of observation and informal conversations (Symkovych, 2019). Furthermore, as I lived in the UkrPS Training Academy during my fieldwork, I discussed my emerging findings and the situation in other Ukrainian prisons with prison officers from all across the country; they were there for several weeks for either initial or refresher training.…”

The Eye of a Needle: Temporary Prison Leave in Ukraine

“…Even so, some policies and attitudes that are seen as being coerced onto Ukraine are resisted for 'being against (allegedly uniform and static) Ukrainian values'(Symkovych 2017(Symkovych , 2019). 3 Ukraine's general population also decreased dramatically due to increased mortality and immigration following the collapse of the USSR in 1991, as well as the annexation of a part of Ukraine by the Russian Federation in 2014.…”

Prison order through the hyperopticon, collectivism, and atomisation: The surveillance and disciplining of Ukrainian prison officers

“…Combining snowball and purposive sampling, I selected 21 staff and 20 prisoners for extended, in-depth, semistructured interviews. These interviewees included prisoners from all tiers of the informal hierarchy (discussed in Symkovych, 2018d) and officers from all departments (discussed below), reflecting the range of reputations, personal histories, and orientations (for more on sampling see Symkovych, 2017Symkovych, , 2018bSymkovych, , 2018cSymkovych, , 2019. During the five months of my fieldwork, I resided in the nearby training academy of the UkrPS.…”