A lawyer explained that most of the costs of maintaining a prisoner are funds for the maintenance of the staff of the penal service.
The average monthly cost of maintaining prisoners in Ukraine is UAH 14,165, which is twice the minimum wage. Most of the money is spent on maintaining the staff of the penal service.
Lawyer, Honored Lawyer of Ukraine, PhD in Law Volodymyr Bogatyr spoke about this in a commentary to UNN, based on data from the Ministry of Justice.
As Bogatyr reported, over seven years, the cost of maintaining prisoners in Ukraine has increased by 3.3 times – from UAH 4,258 per month in 2016 to UAH 14,165 in 2023.
“The minimum monthly wage, which is annually determined in the State Budget of Ukraine, has also grown, but has always been less (approximately two times) than the cost of maintaining prisoners. Why is that? The fact is that the expenses for prisoners, in addition to meeting their needs, also include expenses for the maintenance and social protection of the personnel of the penal service, provision of operational and service activities, as well as expenses for the material and technical support of the activities of the institutions and bodies of the State Penitentiary Service, payment for consumed utilities and energy, etc.,” the lawyer explained.
The lawyer also drew attention to the distribution of state budget expenditures for 2024 (Appendix 3 to the Law on the State Budget). It states that under budget program 3601020 “Execution of Punishments by Institutions and Bodies of the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine,” the general and special funds amount to UAH 8.7 billion. The lion's share (99.5%) is consumption expenditure.
“Utilities and energy take UAH 912.1 million (10.4%), and UAH 6.1 billion (69.7% of all expenditure) is spent on wages. That is, the bulk of the cost of maintaining a prisoner is the maintenance of the personnel of the Penitentiary Service. How much money is actually left for convicts and persons taken into custody to live on is anyone's guess,” Bogatyr explained.
He added that compared to 2023, labor costs under budget program 3601020 this year increased by UAH 1.18 billion, or 24%. While the minimum wage in Ukraine (as of January 1) increased by only 6% (from UAH 6,700 to UAH 7,100).
“The logic of the figures indicates that the state is more concerned with employees of institutions and bodies of the State Penitentiary Service than with social guarantees for its ordinary citizens. Why is this so? A question for those who are now responsible for legal and economic policy in the country,” the lawyer said.
By the way, the day before, the head of the Ministry of Finance, Serhiy Marchenko, said that the minimum wage in Ukraine will not increase in 2025.
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