dr. ineke pruin department of criminology university of greifswald/germany

ERNST MORITZ ARNDT UNIVERSITY OF GREIFSWALD – DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINOLOGY Dr. Ineke Pruin

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How to release? Structures and concepts for the

resettlement of prisoners in Germany in a European Comparison

Dr. Ineke PruinDepartment of Criminology

University of Greifswald/Germany

Budapest, 5 September 2013


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Outline

1. Introduction2. Development of German Prison Acts3. Development of German release practices4. Promising strategies in Europe

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Land entry into force Contents

Baden-Württemberg 01.01.2010 PA, JPA , Pre-Trial, PrevDet

Bavaria 01.01.2008 PA, JPA, PrevDet

Berlin - -

Brandenburg 01.06.2013 PA, JPA, Pre-Trial

Bremen - -

Hamburg 01.09.2009/01.06.2013 PA, PrevDet

Hesse 01.11.2010 PA, PrevDet

Lower Saxony 01.01.2008 PA, JPA, Pre-Trial

Mecklenburg-West Pomerania 01.06.2013 PA

North-Rhine Westphalia - -

Rhineland-Palatinate 01.06.2013 PA, JPA, Pre-Trial, PrevDet

Saarland 01.06.2013 PA, JPA, Pre-Trial, PrevDet

Saxony 01.06.2013 PA

Saxony-Anhalt - -

Schleswig-Holstein - -

Thuringia - -

Prison Acts of the Länder (as of 29/08/2013)


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Release from prison: different services and responsibilities

Prison Social ServiceProbation Service(PS)

Community Social Services ( esp. Voluntary-Ex-Offenders Service (VEOS), Public Employment Agency)

Prison A

Prison B

Prison C

PS in Community A

PS in Community B

Community C

Community D

Community E

VEOS A

PEA A Health Service

Depths Service VEOS B

VEOS APEA B

VEOS D

Housing


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Release from prison: different services and responsibilities

Prison Social ServiceProbation Service(PS)

Community Social Services ( esp. Voluntary-Ex-Offenders Service (VEOS), Public Employment Agency)

Prison A

Prison B

Prison C

PS in Community A

PS in Community B

Community C

Community D

Community E

VEOS A

PEA A Health Service

Depths Service VEOS B

VEOS APEA B

VEOS D

Housing


1. Prison social services shall collaborate with all other relevant authorities (§ 74 and § 154 Prison Act), missing binding structures/responsibilities for the cooperation, responsibility of prison social service ends on the day of release. After care and voluntary return to prison only for prisoners subject to Social Therapy measures.

2. Concept for “continuous care” only for prisoners who are released early and are instructed to stay under the supervision and support of the probation service, missing binding structures/responsibilities for the cooperation.

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Release structures under the (old) Federal Prison Act


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3. Prison can grant a special prison leave of up to one week to prepare for release (§ 15 III Prison Act), prisoner shall be given the possibility to go outside for some hours or a day alone or under the surveillance of a prison officer to address issues outside prison (§ 15 I Prison Act), prisoner can be transferred to an open prison (§ 15 II Prison Act).

4. Discretionary system of early release: exact date of release becomes difficult to anticipate due to the discretion of the court and “difficult” legal criteria.

Release structures under the (old) Federal Prison Act (2)

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Federal State Binding structures for collaboration of prison authorities with other relevant authorities

Binding structures for collaboration of probation services with prison authorities

Federal Prison Act ̶A ̶A

Baden-Württemberg ̶A ̶A

Bavaria ̶A ̶A

Brandenburg + +

Hamburg + +

Hesse + +

Lower Saxony ̶A ̶A

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania

+ ̶A

Rhineland-Palatinate + ̶A

Saarland + ̶A

Saxony + ̶A

Prison Acts of the Länder1. Binding structures and responsibilities

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Federal State Aftercare through Prison Social Services

Voluntary return to prison possible

Federal Prison Act only in case of social therapy only in case of preventive detention

Baden-Württemberg only in case of social therapy only in case of preventive detention

Bavaria + only in case of social therapy

Brandenburg + +

Hamburg + only in case of social therapy

Hesse only in case of social therapy only in case of social therapy

Lower Saxony only in case of preventive detention only in case of prev. det. or ST

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania + +

Rhineland-Palatinate + +

Saarland + +

Saxony + +

Prison Acts of the Länder2. Aftercare and voluntary return

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Federal State Special (long-term) prison leaves for the release preparation

More lenient regulations concerning other privileges like short prison leaves in case of release preparation

Federal Prison Act 1 week (6 months ST) „shall“

Baden-Württemberg 1 week (6 months ST) „shall“

Bavaria 1 week (6 months ST) „shall“

Brandenburg 6 months 6 m before release: „must“

Hamburg 1 week (6 months ST) „shall“

Hesse 3 months (6 months ST) „shall“

Lower Saxony 1 week (6 months ST) „shall“


6 months 6 m before release: „must“

Rhineland-Palatinate 6 months 6 m before release: „must“

Saarland 6 months 6 m before release: „must“

Saxony 6 months 6 m before release: „must“

Prison Acts of the Länder3. Special prison leaves and privileges

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Federal State Transfer to open prisons or prison departments with open regime for release preparation

Transfer to special institutions outside prison for the release preparation

Federal Prison Act „can be transferred“ ̶A

Baden-Württemberg can A

Bavaria can ̶A

Brandenburg „shall be transferred“ (release/resettlement unit)

+

Hamburg can ̶A

Hesse „can“ (“release detention”) ̶A

Lower Saxony can ̶A


shall +

Rhineland-Palatinate shall +

Saarland shall +

Saxony shall +

Prison Acts of the Länder4. Transfer to open prisons or special institutions


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1. Special programmes and projects concerning „transition management“ („Übergangsmanagement“), especially: programmes supporting prisoners to find a job after their release to prepare a promising structure for the life outside prison.

2. Change in organisational structures, especially: the same department of the Ministry of Justice is responsible for both Prison Social Services and Probation Services. Promising: better collaboration.

3. Contracts between prisons and probation services or other services to structure tasks and responsibilities concerning the release of prisoners.

New developments below the level of law


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1. System of automatic release allows for better planning and “continuous care” (see Padfield/van Zyl Smit/Dünkel 2010)

2. Supervised probationary liberty (e.g. FIN, IRE)3. “køreplan for god løsladelse” (DK) 4. Halfway houses 5. Mentoring programs : e.g. High Five (DK, see

Déscarpes/Durnescu 2012), C.R.I.S (Criminals’ Return Into Society)?,

6. Projects for labour integration (Déscarpes/Durnescu 2012)7. DOMICE, Ex-offender Community of Practice ExOCoP8. Etc. etc. etc.???

Promising European practices (from a German point of view)


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Please contact me if you are interested in an exchange of

promising practices – I will organise a workshop in 2014

in Germany.


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Thank you for your attention!

For further information:

Dr. Ineke Pruin

Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University of Greifswald

Department of Criminology

Domstr. 20

D-17487 Greifswald/Germany

E-mail: [email protected]

Internet: http://jura.uni-greifswald.de/duenkel

Tel.: ++49-(0)176-31383740

dr. ineke pruin department of criminology university of greifswald/germany

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