EXECUTIVE AGENCIES’ LEGAL STATUS STRUCTURE (ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE STATE PENITENTIARY SERVICE OF UKRAINE)

Abstract

The comprehensive theoretical and legal analysis of the executive agencies’ legal status structure using the example of the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine. The constitutional principles, regulatory and legal elements, institutional organization, procedural regimes and financial and legal mechanisms forming the specifics of the functioning of this agency in the executive system are studied in the article.The article focuses on the multi-level nature of the legal status of the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine, which combines a centralized management model, internal service autonomy and a special procedure for personnel responsibility. It is shown that institutional subordination to the justice bodies determines the external boundaries of its activities, while the special regime for the execution of sentences determines increased requirements for the regulatory certainty of powers and guarantees of compliance with human rights in places of deprivation of liberty.Particular attention is paid to financial support, financial control and regulation of budget procedures, which play a key role in ensuring security, proper conditions of detention of persons deprived of their liberty, and transparency of management decisions. It was found that the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine activities’ peculiarities in emergency and wartime conditions actualize the issue of the balance between the necesities of public security and the state’s obligation to comply with international standards for the treatment of prisoners. The peculiarities of the activities of this agency in peacetime and wartime reveal a number of systemic challenges – from excessive dependence on secondary legislation to the risks of discretion abuse and insufficient financial support.Based on the analysis of the domestic doctrine, the fragmentation of the treatment of this issue was established and the urgency for further conceptual development of approaches to understanding the legal status of executive authorities in the field of execution of sentences was outlined. The results of the study are aimed at improving the theoretical foundations and regulatory support for the activities of the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine in accordance with the requirements of the rule of law and modern challenges.