Work in prison: different European models
I was invited to Helsinki to give a presentation to the Finnish prison service about work in prisons. One day of the annual conference was held in English with simultaneous interpretation and about 140 people attended including the head of the service and the minister.
I am quite obsessed with work in prisons, so I found it fascinating. In England and Wales we have nearly 40,000 adult men serving four years to life and they basically lie on their bunks for years and years. And we pay for it. So it was interesting to hear from other European countries how their work inside prisons is organised. The conference heard about Sweden, Finland, Netherlands and Estonia.
The production manager from the Malmo region of the Swedish prison and probation service, Bertil Gronberg, said that in 2004 there had been an outburst of riots and escapes in Swedish prisons and as a response a new system of “dynamic security” was introduced. He said that if people have nothing to do, they make trouble. The service conducted a consultation with staff about the kind of products that could be manufactured inside prisons. They have set up a trademark “Made in Jail” and make furniture, although it appeared to be mostly stuff for prisons. They are working with outside designers to introduce high quality and safety.
In 2008 the Swedish prison service linked with Stockholm design college to produce a uniform range for women prisoners. Before that, the women had to wear the same uniform as the men.Â
Theo Venrooij, former prison governor and now head of prison work in Holland said that the dramatically falling prison population offered new opportunities. They have closed nine prisons and laid off 12,000 staff and still have 2,000 empty cells. Only 2% prisoners in Holland stay longer than a year and the majority stay only a week. Three quarters of prisoners are sentenced for drugs related offences. The modernisation programme relies on a culture change in the prisons from control to treatment and investing in staff professionalism.Â
The Dutch prison service is aiming to provide work for all prisoners but is still operating at a loss because of the high labour costs – a ratio of one prison officer to 12 prisoners in workshops. The restriction on time is going to be challenging, the prisons all close down at 5pm so the working day is half time with no flexibility. Prison work is outsourced as labour; the service does not manufacture anything itself. They are aiming to bring in 5.5 Euros per prisoner per hour.
Local government is responsible for returning prisoners in Holland and the prison service is working with mayors so that prisoners go “from work to work”.
Volemar Nellis was asked to set up a not for profit company to run prison work in all of Estonia’s prisons. They have been employing between 300 and 500 prisoners and have been subsidised to get the company started. The subsidy is being withdrawn and the company is expected to make a profit.
In Finland products produced in prisons are sold on the open market and prisoners are paid market relevant wages as part of the normalisation process. Prisoners do not have a contract of employment. Labour colonies and open prisons do repairs for historic buildings and are paid between 6 and 7 Euros an hour.Â
What is most interesting is that there are so many different models and that across Europe prison services are putting their minds to the importance of work for prisoners. Just a pity that is not happening here.
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September 23, 2009
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Frances Crook · 
3 Comments
Tags: International, Prisons · Posted in: International, Prisons, Rehabilitation, Uncategorized
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Following on from my comment on your recent post, “Back from the Council of Europe conference”, it struck me that repairs for historic buildings could be an ideal form of both community sanction and work for prisoners.
It would be interesting to hear what the Finns think of their prisoners being paid to do repairs for historic buildings.
It seems to me that the repairs should be valued by the community while simultaneously helping prisoners to develop constructive skills which could enable them to go from “work to work” as in the Netherlands model.
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