The peculiarities of the legal status of a person serving a sentence is considered in the article. The structure of convict’s legal status is considered.
The main elements of convicts’ legal status include convicts’ subjective rights, legitimate interests and responsibilities.
Under convict’s subjective right in the science of criminal and executive law they understand the possibility enshrined in law and guaranteed by the state of convict’s certain behavior or the use of certain social benefits provided by the legal obligations of officials of penal institutions and other legal entities.
The author points out that legitimate interests are defined as convicts’ desire, enshrined in law, to take specific actions in order to obtain certain benefits, which are usually satisfied as a result of assessment by the officials or administration or administration of penitentiary institutions of a degree of convict’s correction.
European standards and the world’s positive penitentiary practice of serving a sentence and maintaining prisoner’s legal status are being implemented very slowly.
In turn, convict’s duties are established in the mandatory and prohibitive norms of the law to the extent of their necessary conduct during the sentence, ensuring the achievement of the latter’s goals, maintaining law and order during service, respect for the law and legitimate interests of a convict and others.
The main violations of prisoners’ rights in penitentiary institutions of Ukraine are provided. The author considers the basic rights that are violated to be the following: the right to work, the right to receive medical care, the right to personal inviolability, the right to create a safe environment with appropriate conditions of detention. European standards and the world’s positive penitentiary practice of serving a sentence and maintaining prisoner’s legal status are being implemented very slowly.
Key words: convict, penitentiary institution, legal status, punishment, Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, national preventive mechanism.
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