Legal and Axiological Basis for Social Reintegration of Persons Sentenced to Imprisonment and Public Participation in the Process

Abstract

The article discusses the problem of social reintegration of prisoners, which — despite being raised many a time in the relevant literaturę — remains to be a point of issue. In the light of a recent survey conducted by the Polish Public Opinion Research Centre (hereinafter: CBOS), former convicts are considered by the Polish society as one of the groups of people most at risk of social exclusion. In turn, a report of the Ministry of Justice of 2020, regarding convicted adults, shows that a very large number of people leaving prison return to crime as early as in the first year after being released, which, for obvious reasons, has a negative impact on the internal security of our country. These circumstances encourage one to take a fresh glance at the problem of social reintegration of convicts and to search for additional arguments in favor of extending special support to this group of people. A review of the existing legislation indicates that it allows the principle of individualisation of assistance for the sake of social readaptation of individual convicts to be applied to an unlimited extent. What is strictly limited, however, is the circle of persons who can undertake activities for the social readaptation of prisoners during their imprisonment. The exclusion from the above-mentioned circle of all persons validly convicted of intentional offences is unjustified, and with regard to those members of society who, outside the structures of non-governmental organisations, wish to engage in activities for the social readaptation of convicted persons is downright unlawful, as it is contrary to higher-order legal acts. An in-depth analysis of the law in force leads to the conclusion that argumentation for not treating this social group differently from other individuals most at risk of social exclusion can be found in the constitution itself. On the other hand, a review of lower-order legal acts leads to the observation that since our country's accession to the European Union there have appeared both new measures and additional reasons, different from those traditionally identified in the doctrine of executive criminal law, for investing in any human capital in need of support, including persons sentenced to imprisonment.