Purposefulness of Improvement of Convict Re-socialization Implemented in the Remand Prison from the Perspective of the Personnel Engaged in the Process

Laima Liukinevičienė,Donatas Mikalauskas

doi:10.21277/sw.v2i8.382

Abstract

Imprisonment establishments face a challenge to prepare an inmate for social integration. The presented research is based on assumptions provided by scientists who suppose that single quantitative indicators are not sufficient to measure effectiveness of re-socialisation of inmates being implemented in imprisonment institutions; subjective opinions of participants of the process are worth investigating, too. A qualitative research employing a semi-structured interview was conducted in Šiauliai Remand Prison in 2017; the results demonstrate the following: personnel working in social rehabilitation divisions notice changes, progress in the system of implementation of punishment, support the policy of modernisation of imprisonment establishments; however, they lack a systematic approach, compliance with the deadlines in implementation of the programmes, observe the problems of workload of the personnel and the lack of competences, environments required for implementation of individualised social rehabilitation of inmates.

Highlights

Lithuania remains among these EU states where the ratio of inmates serving their sentence in imprisonment institutions per 100,000 inhabitants is the largest: in 2016, the ratio was 239 inmates per 100,000 inhabitants, whereas in Finland there were 57, in Germany 76, in Poland 196 per 100,000 population (Dünkel & Sakalauskas, 2017)
The interview topics were provided in a question form: 1) How did the management of re-socialisation, social rehabilitation of inmates change in the imprisonment establishment over the latter decade? What were the causes? 2) How does performance of the Social Rehabilitation Unit of Šiauliai Remand Prison influence social integration of inmates? 3) What competences are required for individuals working in the area of re-socialisation, social rehabilitation of inmates? 4) What changes at both state and organisational levels are required to achieve efficient re-socialisation of inmates? The collected interview materials have been generalised, significant aspects have been pointed out
High expenses on the reorganisation of the punishment system, modernisation of imprisonment establishments suppose the need to have the criteria for assessment of the re-socialisation process, efficiency of social rehabilitation measures being implemented in the establishments

Summary

Introduction

Lithuania remains among these EU states where the ratio of inmates serving their sentence in imprisonment institutions per 100,000 inhabitants is the largest: in 2016, the ratio was 239 inmates per 100,000 inhabitants, whereas in Finland there were 57, in Germany 76, in Poland 196 per 100,000 population (Dünkel & Sakalauskas, 2017). At the beginning of 2017, there were 6,049 inmates under custodial sentence in Lithuania (Prison Department, 2017). Even though this decrease is significant in comparison to 2014 (in 2014 inmates comprised 0.31 per cent of the entire population of Lithuania, in 2016 and 2017 they comprised 0.23 per cent), it is high in comparison to other EU states. Bearing in mind that throughout the period of restored independence of Lithuania not a single new prison has been built, it is obvious that such situation limits the work of officers, reduces motivation of inmates to prepare themselves for social integration

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Conclusion