NCJ Number
104068
Date Published
1986
Length
19 pages
Annotation
Based on visits to both open and closed maximum-security prisons in Sweden, the author offers her impressions on the prison system from a Portuguese perspective.
Abstract
Under the 1972 Act of Correctional Treatment in Institutions, about 16 percent of the yearly intake population is involved in work/study release programs. Offenders serving up to 1 year (about 90 percent of the annual intake) are normally sent to small, local institutions intended to have open regimes that enable inmates to have intensive contact with normal society and to maintain more normative social ties with their communities. Further, the law emphasizes that inmates retain their rights to use the general social service agencies while serving their terms, thus stimulating additional inmate-community contact and transferring some of the responsibilities of the correctional system to the wider community. Some 500 to 600 leaves are granted to inmates annually, about half to inmates in closed institutions. Leaves may be granted for specialized treatment, educational or vocational treatment, or military service. They may range from 1 month to 1 year, and two-thirds are successfully completed. Under the law, inmates also may be permitted to reside in a therapeutic community, with a family, or in other sheltered quarters (e.g. prerelease hostel). Within maximum-security institutions, contrasts can be found: Kumla, a 200-inmate facility, relies on radar and video monitoring for security and control; while Norrkoping (38 inmates) relies mainly on personal staff-inmate contact and knowledge of the inmates. Finally, complete demilitarization of correctional staff and an understanding visitation policy make Swedish prisons exemplars. 7 notes.