Prisoner resettlement in Germany

Abstract

The competence to regulate prison and probation issues is shared by the Federal parliament of Germany and the parliaments of its 16 federal states (so-called Lander). The overall constitutional aim of resettlement is the “social reintegration” of ex-prisoners. The Lander pursue different approaches in how they try to accomplish this aim. Most of the Lander have improved the cooperation of prison and probation services. In some of the Lander there have been structural reorganizations of the prison and probation services to follow this aim. Other Lander focus on support for the integration into the labour market. In most of the Lander justice and social services agencies signed cooperation contracts for the improvement of prisoner resettlement. While certain concerns about a schematic implementation of the RNR-model play a role in ongoing discussions, the overall approach of resettlement seems to stay focused on classical individual social work.