The article is focused on the penitentiary and probation reform in Ukraine after abolition of the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine that took place in May 2016. The main idea of the paper is that the prison reform is being implemented without clear strategy and without well‐defined targets and indicators. Unfortunately, the team of reformers failed in defining the priorities of the penal reform. The team of reformers had not taken into account criminological and sociological factors that influenced the reform. Summarizing ideas mentioned below, we can present the following principles of public administration of the penal system of Ukraine in the context of the penitentiary reform 2016:

1. Short‐term goals (tactics instead of strategies).
2. Ignorance of sociological and criminological component (priority was given to formal indicators and formal calculations).
3. Extreme populist economic dominant in the implementation of reform.
4. Lack of transparency in shaping even tactical tasks related to reform of the penitentiary system.
5. Lack of criminological and sociological forecasts and tactical intelligence in the process of reforming.
6. Ignorance of practical experience, the natural social laws, international standards, practices and subcultural factors.
7. Lack of support of reforms by practical officers.
8. Unknown principles of the "staff renewal" (obvious messages of corruption in the competitions for positions in the newly created "Prison" Departments of the Ministry of Justice).

The paper can be downloaded here