Council of Europe ISSN 0254-5225 Conseil de l'Europe * ★ * ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ * ★ * Penological Information Bulletin CONTENTS PENOLOGICAL INFORMATION BULLETIN Page 2/92 Foreword ......................................................... ^................... 3 Published yearly in French and English, by the Council of Europe The maintenance of security and control in prisons including links with society................................................. 4 Reproduction Articles or extracts may be reproduced on condition that the The sharing of responsability in the rehabilitation of source is mentioned. A copy should be sent to the Chief Editor. prisoners: the import model............................................... 11 The right to reproduce the cover illustration is reserved. Present situation in the penological field (prison Correspondence sentences, community sanctions and measures) in the countries participating in the Xth CDAP and the All correspondence should be addressed to the Directorate implementation of the European prison rules in the of Legal Affairs, Division of Crime Problems, member states of the Council of Europe.......................... 14 Council of Europe F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex Opinions News from the member states Articles pyblished in the Penological Information Bulletin are the author ’s responsibility alone and do not necessarily Statistics on prison population in the member states reflect the opinions of the Council of Europe. of the Council of Europe ...................................................... 17 Editorial and production team Laws, bills, regulations .......................................................... 27 Chief Editor: Marguerite-Sophie Eckert Bibliography .......................................................................... 31 Assistant : Jean-Pierre Geiller Responsible Editor: Erik Harremoes News in brief .......................................... 37 Cover illustration : Jean-Rémi Schleifer List of directors of prison administrations of the Designed and produced member states of the Council of Europe.......................... 38 by the Publishing and Documentation Service As a consequence of our heavy work load this Bulletin is late. We apologise for the delay. FOREWORD The Council of penology co-operation, in the framework of the European commitee on crime prob­ lems, presents the Penological Information Bulletin No. 17. This bulletin is induced to cover wider subjects. In the future, all the headings - general order con­ tributions, statistics, information on law, bills and regulations, bibliography, news in brief - will cover the penology fields in its entirety. Thereby, this publication will henceforth have the title “Penological Information Bulletin” and a year­ ly publication. The maintenance of security and control in prisons, including links with society Introduction patients but must listen out for the calling of my name. I did as I was told and got into the uniform 1. At first glance, the title may appear surprising, if of all hospital patients, pyjamas and dressing not confusing. After all, the maintenance of security gown. As I packed my clothes I realised how and control must surely be to a greater or lesser dependent I was becoming. I realised that con­ extent in opposition to the notion of increasing contact trol was passing from me to “them”, a feeling between prisons and society ? What I hope to explain later reinforced for the period of absolute help­ is this need not necessarily be so ; and indeed that, lessness immediately before and immediately paradoxically, increasing the amount of contact after my operation. I pulled the curtains back and between prisoners and staff and the wider community there was a group of my fellow patients. They to which they belong, or ought to belong, can actually gave me information, such as where to go for a improve security and control. In seeking to do this, I smoke, that it was a good ward but to watch out shall inevitably draw on recent experience in the for the senior sister, that there was a porter who English prison system as well as on some of the would take bets, that there was a day room with thinking and experience in the United States of a television and what the programmes were to America over the last 10 years or so. be for that day. I suddenly realised that with their advent institutionalisation was complete. I was The nature of institutions part of the equivalent of the prisoner sub-culture, 2. It is in the nature of institutions in général and of one of “us” of the “them and us”. All institutions prisons in particular that they tend to be insular and have some of the elements I have described. A inward looking, preoccupied with their own internal prison has them all. It is a total institution which dynamics and concerns, narrowing the range of takes away from its inhabitants committed to it human experience and interaction and requiring the ordering of their daily lives.” those who live and work in them as well as those who come into contact with them to play out narrow and 3. As prison directors, I suggest we do well con­ restricted roles: inmate, staff member, visitor, stantly to remind ourselves of these powerful and member of the public, headquarters official. This is negative forces which damage and depersonalise our exemplified for us not only in our day to day work as inmates and our staff alike - what Goffman in his prison administrators and managers who is graphi­ book “Asylums”, still so relevant and striking in the cally displayed in some of the writings of those who 1990s as it was when it was written in the 1960s, have been subject to institutional treatment in hos­ refers to as the “encompassing tendencies” of total pital, in prison or elsewhere. It was put very well for institutions. The boredom of everyday prison life, the me by a prison chaplain who wrote as follows : absence of choice and of the freedom to seek priv­ acy, these are the key elements which go to make up “During 1984 I had to go into hospital for a few what has been so powerfully summed up as “the days. It was a salutary experience; although I pains of imprisonment”. was a volunteer it put me in a similar position to that of the parishioners of the Prison Service 4. The very nature of imprisonment implies of Chaplaincy. On arrival at the hospital I reported course the notion of banishment, of separation and to the reception desk; I was given a number and rejection of the offender by society, of a form of told to sit “over there”. “Over there” was an internal exile. The forbidding appearance of many of anonymous group of people. Numbers were our prisons with their high walls, watch towers, heavy being called and as each number was called the gates and grim setting give symbolic value to that person to whom it referred went forward to a process, with the result that society knows little of counter; the purpose of this was to check infor­ what goes on behind the walls - and what little it does mation already given, even to repeat some of it. know is about what goes wrong. Prison systems do The jokes of a friendly porter who passed the not do enough to look and reach outwards rather than area were frequently received with frozen inwards. Thus there is a mutual “stand off’: with smiles, if not glares, of the apprehensive. I was society keeping at arm ’s length from knowledge allocated to a ward and conducted there with a about or involvement in the prison system and the small group of other men. A friendly ward sister prisons keeping the doors firmly shut on the outside introduced herself to us ; she conducted me to world, ostensibly in the name of security and control. my bed, told me to undress, get a bath, pack my clothes to send home. She told me that I could A physical approach to security and control not leave the ward, there was no smoking and I was not to eat after 6 pm in the evening. I was 5. Historically, security and control were main ­ told that I could introduce myself to my fellow tained through the concept of isolation : the prisoner locked away in his cell is in a triple security envelope individuals and to get closer to them, to learn of their - the cell itself, the main prison building and the circumstances, their problems, their hopes and their perimeter wall - a combination which presents a for­ fears - and, of course, vice versa. Stereotypes midable barrier to escape; isolated from his fellows started to break down and labels to be removed. and from close contact with staff, he presented also Whilst there was much that was healthy, positive and little threat to control. With time for reflection and commendable about this trend as roles broadened repentance through the “separate system” as it was and relationships started to flourish there was also a known in the United States, the hope was that he lot that was threatening, frightening and capable of would be reformed. Thus, security, control and reform abuse. It required a maturity and professionalism were interlocked (literally and metaphorically) and which not every prison officer had to be playing table worked together in a mutually consistent and re­ tennis with a prisoner one day and placing him on a inforcing way. Staff understood that; objectives were disciplinary charge the next. Secondly, prison officers clear; everyone knew their place in the order of ceased to be the sole staff group as teachers, instruc­ things. Generally speaking the system ran smoothly tors, social workers and other “specialists ” increas ­ and silently on well oiled wheels of compliance within ingly came to work in prisons either full or part time, a rigidly hierarchical and authoritarian system, a some employed by the prison authorities, some on system which of course applied as strictly to the staff contract from their employing organisation. as it did to the prisoners - no smiling, no talking, in Suspicion, rivalry, and struggles for power became all effect no personal contact or rapport.