Empty Colonies, Full Cemeteries: Prisons, War, and Russia’s Demography
Three statistical series – the population of the Russian Federation, the number of prisoners, and the losses of Russian forces in the war
Dmytro Yagunov: The Cyclical Nature of Failure: Periodization of Penitentiary Reforms in Ukraine (1991–2026) as a Case of Institutional Drift
Since 1991, the Ukrainian penitentiary system has undergone many reforms – too many for such a period of time. It is entirely natural
Empty Bunks, New Prisons: Why Does Russia Need Seven Super-Prisons If Its Prison Population Has Fallen Fourfold?
The Russian authorities have officially announced plans to build an entire complex of new prisons. By 2035, the Federal Penitentiary Service of the
The Odesa Pre-Trial Detention Centre: How “Institutional Security” Became the Official Pretext for Concealing Deaths, Suicides, and Torture
On 4 August 2026 I submitted a request for public information to the South-Central Interregional Directorate for the Execution of Criminal Punishments of
The Right to Life Has No Retention Period: Where Did Odesa Detention Centre’s Mortality Statistics Go?
How many people have died in the Odesa Pre-Trial Detention Centre over the past decade and a half? How many of them took
Darkness as a Management Strategy: How the Odesa Pre-Trial Detention Prison Hides Its Own Statistics
For almost 30 years I have been researching Ukraine’s penitentiary system and reforming this field. During this time much has changed – my
A Court Case on Transparency in the Prison System: Access to Statistics and a Precedent for the Whole Country
Dear friends, colleagues, everyone who is in one way or another involved in the study, analysis, and reform of Ukraine’s penitentiary system. Everyone
Institutional Darkness: The Inaction of the PCMRU and Odesa SIZO as a Systemic Dysfunction of Penitentiary Oversight (Proceedings in Case No. 420/9112/26)
2 April 2026, the European Court of Human Rights delivered its judgment in Ukrayinskyy and Others v. Ukraine — 42 applicants, correctional colony
The Kyiv Tragedy, Gun Rights and Police Escape: Three Dimensions of a Single Issue
April 18, 2026. Holosiivskyi district of Kyiv. Six dead, over fifteen wounded, including children. An armed man opens fire on people, barricades himself
Solitary Confinement in Ukraine: Statistics That Don’t Exist and Never Have
I recently carried out what might seem like a routine administrative procedure — I sent an information request to the Department for the