One morning in May 2025, alarms ring out across a medium-security prison in western Ukraine. Over the course of just a few hours prison staff were hit with not just one but five unfolding incidents: a fire, a missing prisoner, a medical emergency, a drone spotted overhead, and a hostage taken inside the facility.
This was not a case of terrible coincidence, but rather a simulation organised by UNODC together with the Department for the Execution of Criminal Punishments (DECP).
It was the first time an exercise of this kind had ever taken place in a Ukrainian prison. The simulation was part of a broader effort to integrate crisis preparedness into everyday institutional routines in Ukraine’s prisons as part of the PACE.UA Programme. The programme is a UNODC initiative supporting crisis preparedness, human rights compliance and rehabilitation in Ukraine’s prisons.
A week earlier, in Truskavets, 14 professionals from regional prison departments, the Penitentiary Academy, and the central DECP headquarters gathered for a five-day Training of Trainersprogramme led by UNODC. All had experience in prison operations, but few had received formal instruction on planning for large-scale emergencies.
Over the week, they worked through adult learning principles, the incident management cycle, and emergency response scenarios shaped by the realities of war. They reviewed international standards, discussed gaps in national procedures, and tested their responses through desk simulations involving fires, escapes, hostage situations, and mass poisoning.
The training is one of a series focused on strengthening institutional capacity and crisis preparedness in Ukraine’s prisons. In addition, the PACE.UA programmeaims to improve infrastructure and equipment, foster rehabilitation and reintegration, and strenghten policy dialogue and coordinaton. Through the programme UNODC and national partners are achieving immediate impact while working towards systemic reform.
As the training progressed, the focus began to shift. The group moved from learning how to respond to exploring how to teach others.
On the final day, participants were asked: "Are you ready to run a real simulation?" Eight said yes.
On the morning of 26 May, the prison gates opened as usual. But inside, nothing about the day was routine.
Staff arrived unaware of what was planned. They were about to face a complex, unrehearsed simulation involving five simultaneous emergencies, introduced one after another with no time to regroup.
The scenario was led by the same eight national facilitators who had just completed their training. Now on the other side, they guided the simulation, coached 14 prison staff through the process, and observed how they responded in real time.
The first event was a staged missile strike. Then came a hostage situation. Minutes later, smoke was reported near a building. A medical emergency followed. A prisoner disappeared. Every 10 to 20 minutes, a new incident happened, testing the team's ability to stay focused and make decisions under pressure.
The tension felt real, not because there was danger, but because every participant wanted to get it right.Drones buzzed overhead. Smoke filled the courtyard. A hostage actor was tied with a rope and threatened with a mock grenade. Fire trucks moved into position. Communication systems were stressed. The simulation was going right…
During the three-hour simulation, the prison’s emergency response plans were also tested as a whole. Not everything went smoothly. Some teams hesitated. Certain roles overlapped. Response coordination took time to stabilise.
But staff remained calm. The First Deputy Director handled decision-making with confidence. Medical and operational units coordinated their efforts. The command chain held. Even when incidents overlapped, the system didn’t freeze.
Later, during the debrief, staff reflected on what they had experienced. Some recommended increasing the number of responders per incident. Others noted the need for clearer task distribution and stronger links between internal and external responders. The experience helped identify gaps — but it also helped build confidence.
The simulation at the facility in the Lviv region was the first of its kind in Ukraine, but it will not be the last.
For prison staff, the experience offered a rare opportunity to test skills, leadership, and decision-making in a controlled but demanding setting. For the newly trained national facilitators, it was proof of concept: that they could lead complex simulations themselves and support colleagues through the learning process.
But more broadly, the exercise demonstrated the value of integrating structured crisis preparedness into the national penitentiary system, not just as a response to war-related risks, but as a permanent element of institutional development.
