THE CONTENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE ON THE PROCEDURE FOR SERVING A SENTENCE OF LIFE IMPRISONMENT

The article analyzes the content of Recommendation Rec(2003)23 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the management by prison administrations of life sentence and other long-term prisoners, which contains a thorough analysis of areas of life imprisonment, namely: the purpose of execution of punishment in the form of life imprisonment is defined; the basic principles of life imprisonment are explained; recommendations were provided on individual planning of serving a sentence of life imprisonment; clarification was provided on the assessment of the risk and needs of those sentenced to life imprisonment; recommendations on the specifics of the work of staff working with convicts sentenced to life imprisonment. As a result of the generalized analysis of the content of the international standards of the Council of Europe the system of serving of punishment in the form of life imprisonment which consists of the following stages is modeled: I — the Stage of definition of the initial estimation of the person sentenced to life imprisonment; ІІ — Stage of drawing up and realization of the plan of serving of punishment in the form of life imprisonment; ІІІ — Stage of preparation and implementation of the individual plan of release of convicts to life imprisonment; IV — Stage of adaptation of convicts to life imprisonment in society. It is determined that the proposed model of serving a sentence, which reflects the content of international standards of treatment of convicts sentenced to life imprisonment in the future may be a guide for implementation in the penitentiary activities of Ukraine.