Lviv Penal Colony No. 48 has been sold at an electronic auction for UAH 377.5 million (US$13.7 million). The starting price of the object was UAH 132.6 million (US$4.8 million). In August 2020, the Ukrainian Justice Ministry announced the mass sale of property of the penitentiary system, as part of plans to fund a much-needed overhaul of the ageing prison system.
“Today the first lot was sold at an auction - the property of Colony No. 48 (Khutorivka, 2). The starting price of the main object was 132 million 674 thousand 303 hryvnias 55 kopecks. The selling price after the auction was 377 million 500 thousand hryvnias. The price at the auction has increased by almost three times," said Denys Maliuska, Ukrainian Justice Minister, UKRINFORM reports.
According to him, seven bidders took part in the auction.
In August 2020, the Ukrainian Justice Ministry announced the mass sale of property of the penitentiary system. Irpin Correctional Center No. 132, Pivdenna Penal Colony No. 51 in Odesa and Lviv Penal Colony No. 48 were put up for electronic bidding.
"We want to sell about a hundred facilities. The first ones will be those already closed. The second stage is the sale of pre-trial detention centers in the city center. With the money received from the sale, we will build new pre-trial detention centers,” said Maliuska in 2020, as reported by France24.
“More than 51,000 people are held in some 130 prisons across Ukraine, according to official figures, mostly in old facilities with dire conditions that according to a 2016 US State Department report pose a “serious threat to the life and health of prisoners,” France24 reported.
