The article is focused on the contemporary problems of reforming the penitentiary system of Ukraine by the results of changes in the models of public administration of the penitentiary system of Ukraine, which took place twice in 2016-2017 (May 2016 and September 2017). The article analyzes two approaches proposed by English scholars Michael Cavadino and James Dignan concerning the concept of «crisis of the penitentiary system».

Thus, the classical approach provides a very simple toolkit to identify the presence of a crisis in the penitentiary system. The final indicator of the existence of such a crisis is the lack of control over the penitentiary system by the prison authorities due to the above-mentioned reasons, where uncontrolled outbreaks of violence in prisons occupy a special place. A classical approach can be used to demonstrate the obvious paradox typical of Ukraine's penitentiary system: what the Ministry of Justice issues for a crisis is not really one.

On the contrary, a radical approach is valuable in demonstrating what, in fact, is the crisis of the Ukrainian penitentiary system, what caused this crisis and what is the role of the Ministry of Justice (theoretically responsible for the shaping and implementation of penitentiary policy) in creating an artificial systemic crisis in the penitentiary system.

The paper can be downloaded here