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Welcome to the EuroPris Knowledge Management System. The table below shows questions and responses from European National Agencies. Select a question for more information or use the filters on the left to narrow down questions based on Agency or Category.
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Introduction: There is a commitment in the England and Wales Prisons Strategy White Paper to “Establish an Innovations Taskforce with experts from the front line, health, psychology, in academia and third sector organisations to bring together innovative thinking and best practice to address the drivers of violence and self-harm in prisons, piloting new interventions to tackle violent behaviours, and other safety issues” (p.22). https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1038765/prisons-strategy-white-paper.pdf We are reviewing existing services and support in prisons and where we can innovate to address the drivers of self-harm and violence in custody. As part of this review, we are seeking information about the rates of occurrence of violence and self-harm in other European prison systems as part of our wider discovery phase looking at potential international comparators. To assist us with looking at international comparators, we would appreciate if you were able to answer the below three questions:
Yes, all self-harm behaviours and cases of suicide, are recorded and reported. The anual report includes all information available to make any type of comparison (the anual report of 2020 is attached).
In your prison service, is there any data on how much time prisoners, on average, have out of their cell or in purposeful (leisure, employment, education) activity?All data, according to previous answer, is also reported and included in the mentioned reports. Interventions, training courses, work outside and inside, etc. Everything is available.
What proportion of prisoners in your prison service have been in prison previously (returnees), compared to their sentence being their first time in prison (first timers)?The rates of re-offending are available as well. Just to mention the anual report is in spanish. Also, the SPACE report also involves data concerning the profile of current inmates in Spain and abroad, for comparisons (attached).
Attachments:
The Corps of Prison and Court Guard (hereinafter only “Corps”) records incidents of violence by inmates against each other or against prison staff and occurrence of self-harm by inmates as extraordinary incidents. These data are published annually in the Corps’ yearbook. The yearbooks from 2011 are publicly available on the website of the Corps (link: https://www.zvjs.sk/sk/vyrocna-sprava). Data concerning the Corps and selected extraordinary incidents are also available in the Council of Europe Annual Penal Statistics (SPACE I).
In your prison service, is there any data on how much time prisoners, on average, have out of their cell or in purposeful (leisure, employment, education) activity?The Corps does not assess these data on a regular basis, but tries to meet the recommendations of the CPT that all inmates (including accused persons) should be able to spend a reasonable part of the day (i.e. eight hours or more) outside their cells participating in targeted activities of various natures. The Corps also included the above mentioned recommendation to its conceptual plans which are summarised in the Conception of the Prison System of the Slovak Republic for years 2022-2030. This also led to the amendment of the Act on Pre-trial Detention Execution, which explicitly regulates the amount of time that accused persons should spend out of their cells (this Act will enter into force on 1 January 2023).
What proportion of prisoners in your prison service have been in prison previously (returnees), compared to their sentence being their first time in prison (first timers)?As of 1 October 2022, the Corps records 5 454 recidivists, which represents 64% of the total convicted population. However, we should note in this context that the Corps summarizes recidivism data as the number of convicted persons who were repeatedly serving the prison sentence at the end of the calendar month. For the purposes of this assessment, a recidivist is defined as any person who is not serving a prison sentence for the first time, regardless of the time that has passed since release and the reasons for his/her return to prison. In addition to “standard recidivists” (persons who have repeatedly committed a crime), this statistic also includes convicted persons who, during the probation period of their conditional release, have breached an obligation imposed by the court without committing a further crime, and convicted persons who are serving a prison sentence for a crime committed prior to the sentence from which they have been conditionally released.
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Every quarter, data on self-harm are collected in the Lithuanian prisons. The data is stored by the Resocialization Unit of the Prison Department, should the data be needed, the request may be addressed to the Unit (also data may be accessed on SPACE I). No centralized records of violence in prison are collected. Taking into consideration the need to record, systemise and analyse all cases of violence, an algorithm for violence prevention in prisons is currently being developed at the Prison Department.
In your prison service, is there any data on how much time prisoners, on average, have out of their cell or in purposeful (leisure, employment, education) activity?No
What proportion of prisoners in your prison service have been in prison previously (returnees), compared to their sentence being their first time in prison (first timers)?As of 30 September 2022, the prison population was 4219, of them 957 (22,7%) prisoners were first time sentenced. Moreover, 522 persons (12,6%) were serving a prison sentence for the first time but were considered to be returnees, i.e., offenders with prior convictions who have not yet served a real prison sentence.
Yes. This are the numbers for the year 2021- and part of 2022: Violence between inmates in custody: 590 (2021) 522 (until 30th of September (2022) Violence against employees: 412 (2021) 582* same as above Suicide in custody: 2 (2021) 2 same as above Self-harm in custody: 363 (2021) 201 same as above *These numbers include violent resistance (202 incidents). “Violence against employees” did not include violent resistance before 1st of April 2022.
In your prison service, is there any data on how much time prisoners, on average, have out of their cell or in purposeful (leisure, employment, education) activity?The Swedish Prison and Probation Service (SSPS) register and measure the “employment rate” in prison. The employment rate is calculated as utilized time (number of actual employment hours) in relation to available time (number of possible employment hours according to the prison's schedule). The employment rate has been at a similar level over the past three years and averaged 78 percent in 2021. Outside possible employment hours, the inmates have leisure time (nights and weekends) which is time that is not registered or measured. In remand prisons SPPS register and measure time spend together with others categorized in different form of activities.
What proportion of prisoners in your prison service have been in prison previously (returnees), compared to their sentence being their first time in prison (first timers)?We cannot, in the short time limit for the question, provide you with the exact answer you are looking for. However, with that said, one of the SPPS goals is to reduce the risk of recidivism. Inmates who have served a sentence within SPPS and then are sentenced to a new correctional sentence within three years counts as recidivists. The percentage of recidivism calculated in this way is 30 percent, which is significantly lower than in the 1990s, when around 40 percent reoffended. There is a relationship between risk of relapse and the number of previous sentences within SPPS. A person with several previous enforcement actions has a greater risk of recidivism. Less than a fifth of the persons without previous sentences within the SPPS relapsed in crime within a three-year period from 2010 to 2018. The relapse rate was higher among persons with previous sentences. The more previous sentences the person had, the bigger the proportion who relapsed into crime is
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Yes. Comparison between jurisdictions is complicated in issues like this. Definitions needs to be very accurate and the quality of observation, identification, registration and documentation are elements due to lead to unaccurate conclutions if comparisons are used without close evaluations. Closer communication with each other could lead to a more precise understanding of each country's model and method.
In your prison service, is there any data on how much time prisoners, on average, have out of their cell or in purposeful (leisure, employment, education) activity?Yes. this is registred in every prison nowadays.
What proportion of prisoners in your prison service have been in prison previously (returnees), compared to their sentence being their first time in prison (first timers)?When comparing first timers with returnees the foreign inmates are counted. The foreign inmates seems not to return in the retunees statistics, so one should be aware of this. The Nordic statistics of Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Sweden is available from 2011-2015 and 2015-2020. Here detailed information is given about collecting and evaluating the information. www.kriminalomsorgen.no/?cat=536003 This is an english site giving a broad insight in our agency. I would recommend "Annual reprot, Recicivism and Nordic Statistics".
Record is for every case, but no continious statistics.
In your prison service, is there any data on how much time prisoners, on average, have out of their cell or in purposeful (leisure, employment, education) activity?Yes.
What proportion of prisoners in your prison service have been in prison previously (returnees), compared to their sentence being their first time in prison (first timers)?On 01.01.2022 there were 397 (22,4%) persons whos sentence was their first time being in prisons, 1377 (77,6%) persons were in prison at least second time.
The Department of Prison and Probation Service (in the Danish Prison and Probation Service) reports on suicides, suicide attempts and serious self-harm events on a yearly basis towards the end of the following year due to the complexity in the cases of suicides attempts. We report on suicide, suicide attempts and serious self-harm events for inmates that occurs inside the prison facilities. Suicides where the inmate dies in community hospitals directly following a suicide at-tempt in prison is also included. Serious self-harm events are defined as incidents where the inmate – despite the inmate’s intentions – according to the attending personnel has brought his/her life in significant danger. Access to the yearly reported figures can be made by contacting the Department of Prisons and Probation. We report figure on inmates who have been victims of violence or threats from fellow inmates on a monthly and yearly basis. Access to the reported figures can be made by contacting the Danish Department of Prisons and Probation (https://www.kriminalforsorgen.dk).
In your prison service, is there any data on how much time prisoners, on average, have out of their cell or in purposeful (leisure, employment, education) activity?The Department of Prisons and Probation (in the Danish Prison and Probation Service) does not register how much time, on average, the prisoners have out of their cells or in purposeful activity. Nonetheless, there are juridical regulations, which regulate the amount of hours the prisoners can be locked up in their cells during the evening and night. The amount of hours depends on the type of regime, respective-ly closed, open and remand prisons. In closed prisons, the inmates can be locked up their cells for a maximum of 12 hours during the period from 20:00 to 9:00. In open prisons, the inmates can be locked up their cells for a maximum of 11 hours during the period from 21:00 to 8:00. Finally, in remand pris-ons the inmates can be locked up in their cells for a maximum of 23 hours during the day. Furthermore, prisoners in both closed and open prison are, by law, obligated to have employment, whereas prisoners in remand prisons have a right to employment. Thus the time the prisoners have out of their cells are mainly used for purposeful activities such as employment, education, leisure, cooking, sports etc. Type of activity depends on the regime.
What proportion of prisoners in your prison service have been in prison previously (returnees), compared to their sentence being their first time in prison (first timers)?Specific data not available.
At the Italian penitentiary Administration Headquarters, there is a “Situation Room”, which was established in order to record and monitor all the critical events occurring in the 189 Italian prisons. Nevertheless, the data gathered are not published and are used only for internal purposes of the Penitentiary Administration.
In your prison service, is there any data on how much time prisoners, on average, have out of their cell or in purposeful (leisure, employment, education) activity?The quantity of time that prisoners spend outside their rooms is provided for by some Circular Letters issued by the Department of Penitentiary Administration’s Headquarters. The prisoners assigned to the medium security category can stay out of their rooms for eight hours a day (in some cases even for ten hours a day), to carry out work activities, to attend school courses, to carry out leisure, sport and cultural activities and to stay outdoor (outdoor exercise is four hours a day at least). In any case, the outdoor exercise time is four hours per day for every category of prisoners. Our Administration does not process any statistics on the time spent by prisoners out of their rooms.
What proportion of prisoners in your prison service have been in prison previously (returnees), compared to their sentence being their first time in prison (first timers)?The Italian penitentiary Administration processes data and statistics on the inmates who have been in prison previously. The last data available (31st December 2021) showed that the total number of prisoners present was 54,134. Out of these ones, 68.9% of Italian prisoners had at least one previous imprisonment and 45.5% of the foreign inmates had at least one previous imprisonment. In particular, 49.4% of Italian prisoners had between 1 and 4 previous imprisonments and 40.7% of the foreign inmates had between 1 and 4 previous imprisonments. Moreover, 15.9% Italian prisoners had between 5 and 9 previous imprisonments and 4.3% of the foreign inmates had between 5 and 9 previous imprisonments.
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The Prison Administration collects data on prisoners' self-harm for the internal organisation of work in the field of suicidal behavior prevention. The following personal data are collected: name and surname, date of birth, status of the prisoner (convicted/arrested), place of detention, articles of the Criminal Code, type of self-harm, date and time of detection of self-harm. Data on self-harm could be used depending on the design, methodology, purpose of the study. The Prison Administration does not collect data on inmate violence in prisons.
In your prison service, is there any data on how much time prisoners, on average, have out of their cell or in purposeful (leisure, employment, education) activity?Prisoners spend time outside their cells according to their involvement in activities: 2.1. educational activities: general primary education, general secondary education, vocational education, as well as interest or non-formal education programmes (the time spent outside the cell depends on the specific programme (on average about four hours per day), the education takes place in adapted premises); 2.2. social rehabilitation or social behavior correction programmes (the duration of one session of a social rehabilitation or social behavior correction programme is on average 1.5 hours, there are on average 1-2 sessions per week of a specific programme, which take place in premises designed for the implementation of resocialization programmes); 2.3. individual counselling by a psychologist and a social worker. Participation in counselling by a psychologist or a social worker is voluntary; on average, 10 counselling sessions per prisoner are provided by a psychologist, while counselling by a social worker is provided on an as-needed basis (one session lasts 45 minutes and takes place in the psychologist's or social worker's office); 2.4. paid work in workplaces established by a merchant or in the economic service of a penitentiary institution, unpaid work exclusively in the maintenance, cleaning and improvement of penitentiary institutions and the surrounding territory, as well as in the improvement of the cultural and living conditions of convicts. The length of the working day shall be regulated by the national legal framework; 2.5. leisure-time activities (cultural, artistic and sport activities shall take place in accordance with the timetable laid down in the prisoners' daily routines and in designated areas outside the cell); 2.6. in spiritual care activities and to participate in Christian programmes (the location of the spiritual care activities depends on the type of event, most of the time taking place in the chapel); 2.7. career counselling. Career counselling is provided both individually and in groups by specialists from the State Employment Agency (up to one hour per counselling session, held in the resocialisation room); 2.8. addiction reduction measures: Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous fellowship meetings, which take place every two weeks, last on average one hour, and are held in appropriate resocialisation rooms. Alcoholics Anonymous individual sessions (AA sponsorship) are held once a week for one hour in a suitable off-camera room.
What proportion of prisoners in your prison service have been in prison previously (returnees), compared to their sentence being their first time in prison (first timers)?As of 1 January 2022, there were 911 first-time prisoners and 1426 prisoners with a history of imprisonment (recidivists) in prisons in the Republic of Latvia. As of 31 October 2022, there were 881 first-time prisoners and 1 541 prisoners with a history of imprisonment (recidivists) in prisons in the Republic of Latvia.