Immigrants in German Prison Population

• In Event: Faith, Spirituality and Adjustment to Prison Among Men, Women, Native, and Non-native Inmates

Abstract

Immigration, especially refugees from Northern and Central Africa as well as from the Middle East, has become an enormous challenge for European countries like Germany. In 2015 about 2 million migrants came to Germany, among them more than 1 million refugees. Many of them were young men with little perspectives, their crime burden rapidly increased and also did their portion of prison inmates. Currently, in some facilities more than 75 percent are foreigners and many of them are unable to speak German.
The paper shows the development and the structure of foreign inmates in the prison population of a particular German federal land. Problems with communication, integration, and possible radicalization will be discussed and efforts in managing these challenges will be presented.

Author

• Joachim Obergfell-Fuchs, Academy for Prison Officers Baden-Wuerttemberg