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In a move to get closer to European standards in penal institutions, Kyiv has upgraded its first detention center.

Sweet bedroom slippers, down pillows, woolen blankets, snow-white bed sheets and new mattresses. This is not a hotel. It’s a prison cell, the first of its kind in Ukraine.

To comply with European standards for detention centers ahead of the Euro 2012 soccer championship that Ukraine will co-host, the Interior Ministry has started to upgrade detention cells in Kyiv.

It’s a small yet significant step forward for a country whose “prison and detention center conditions generally did not meet international standards,” according to the most recent U.S. State Department Human Rights Report (www.state.gov).

And so, since mid-September, those who ended up in the pre-trial detention center at 9 Hertsena Street in Kyiv were pleasantly surprised. They get locked up in relative comfort and, in a sanitary upgrade, are forced to take a shower upon entering the cells.

“It is obligatory to take a shower from now on. They used to be taken straight to the cell in whatever they wore when they were arrested. It made no difference what they looked like because they slept on bare boards, plank beds with no bedclothes,” said Roman Shevchenko, a police major in Kyiv’s Shevchenkivsky district, where the renovated detention cells are located.

“After the shower, all those detained are now given brand new disposable slippers, down pillows, woolen blankets, white bed sheets and new mattresses,” Shevchenko added.

The five new cells started operating on Sept. 16. In the first four days, they received 25 detainees suspected of drug dealing or use. Such suspects typically spend between three hours and three days in detention centers before being either tried by a court or released, depending on the offense.

Roman Braychenko, one of the lucky detainees who tried out a new, upgraded cell, said there is a real difference in comfort.

“I have been detained twice. The first conditions were appalling. I had to ask to be allowed out every time I needed to visit the toilet. Of course, this time I could not even imagine having a brand new pillow and bedclothes. It is much more comfortable to have a personal cupboard, toilet and a washstand right here in the cell. I do not need to tell everybody I want to visit the bathroom every time,” Braychenko said.

To upgrade five cells, Shevchenkivsky district authorities spent Hr 300,000. “For some two months we were making major upgrades to make the suspects feel more comfortable. The renovations were done in accordance with European standards. There are plans to renovate more rooms in other districts of Kyiv,” Shevchenko said.

The new cells were last month inspected by the Council of Europe’s committee for prevention of torture and inhumane treatment or punishment. The delegation visited Ukraine to assess progress made since their previous visit in 2005.

Shevchenko said the delegation was pleased with what they saw in his center. “We’ve had some new guests every day. All of them saw our new cells and said they correspond to European standards,” Shevchenko added.

The police officers have also received a little perk from the upgrades: a new computer and printer in the interrogation room.

“It allows us to work quicker and not to use handwriting as we had before,” Shevchenko said. “It feels like European standards are not far away from Ukraine.”

At least, it’s true in these particular prison cells.

The Ukrainian penal system consists of 183 institutions with 146,000 inmates out of which some 37,000 are being at solitary confinement cells, according to Anatoly Paliy, deputy director of the State Penitentiary Department at Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman secretariat. There are 500 solitary confinement cells in Ukraine; 100 of them are closed to be upgraded soon, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, said Oleksandr Maly, who works in the human rights ombudsman’s office.

“There are over 1,500 preliminary detention centers in Ukraine, out of which 15 percent are being prepared for repairs. Some three years ago the Interior Ministry gave Hr 4 million, which paid for renovations to date, said police captain Stanislav Kasianenko.

However, in 2009, no funds from the state budget were provided on cells’ repairs, reconstruction and building. Today there are three solitary confinement cells in Ukraine that are done according to European standards. “We are in need of some Hr 240 million to upgrade all the other cells to make them meet international standards. However, only Hr 45 million is proposed for the 2010 budget, Maly said.