The Role of Resocialization for the Social Climate of Prisons from Prisoners’ Perspective

• In Event: Reintegration after imprisonment as a human right – but what does that mean in practice?

Abstract

German prison law names resocialization as the main aim of the German prison system, which shapes and influences many facets of the regime. This is mostly evident in the organizational aspects like the general provision of work, rehabilitative measures, and specialized staff to deal with addiction, debt, or mental health issues for example. Beyond that, prisons are supposed to grant permissions for prison leaves and furloughs as a specific preparation for release. While these measures are supposed to exist in all German prisons, their actual availability and perceived impact and meaningfulness vary greatly between individual prisons, especially from the prisoners’ point of view. This on the other hand can influence their quality of life and the social climate of the prison, impacting the prisoners’ assessment of fairness, bureaucratic legitimacy, and chances for personal development among other things.
This paper will present how prisoners from two German prisons perceive the implementation of resocialization measures and its impact on their imprisonment experience. The paper draws on recent quantitative and qualitative findings from the German and Swiss MQPL+ exercise (MQPL-D). The MQPL-D project aims to test the MQPL+ method in German and Swiss prisons with an additional focus on the concept of resocialization and its impact on the social climate of prisons.

Author

• Kristina Lewandowski, University of Berlin