Protecting rights of convicts to compensation for abuse of confinement: a comparative aspect

The article presents a comparative review of the approaches of post-Soviet jurisdictions to the regulation of compensation and social rehabilitation mechanisms protecting the rights of convicted persons, the infringement of which violates the concept of jus cogens (e.g., non-compliance with the prohibition of torture, cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment and punishment, or other types of coercion and abuse in the penitentiary sector) or constitutes high-profile serious penitentiary incidents of international scale (including unlawful restriction of contacts of convicted persons with the outside world or access to independent preventive mechanisms). The author believes that the rights of convicted persons to decent conditions of confinement, including the right to compensation in case of violation, is differentiated into a transversal (international and national) institution of the legal status of convicts. The paper discusses international legal standards and national legal regulation of a set of rights of convicted persons to decent conditions of confinement. Based on the identified similarities in the legislative approaches in post-Soviet countries to regulating the procedure and conditions of the execution of sentences, the paper notes innovative approaches to regulation of the legal status of convicts (including data protection, socially vulnerable categories of detainees, providing access to preventive control mechanisms, etc.).