5.

Prisons Selected for the Study

Gaps in Previous Research

In Part 2 I will deal with those social events in correctional institutions which were not disclosed by their perpetrators since, as a rule, they are violations of the officially accepted rules of social coexistence. The perpetrators themselves create sui generis rules regulating the life of the inmates as well as the social forces responsible for their observance. It is exactly this world of secret social events, together with their specific regulations, which in literature is known as the “hidden life” of penal institutions.

This “hidden life” includes three stages of interpersonal relationships: among employees of the prison administration, among the prisoners, and between the administration and the inmates. Polish research has concentrated chiefly on relations within the community of the prisoners and only to a slight degree on the attitudes of the inmates toward the administration. Not much is known about the attitude of the administration toward the prisoners and virtually nothing on the subject of relations within the administration itself. A description of all three groups of relations, made on the basis of investigations conducted in three penal institutions is included in Part 2, “Behind the Facade of Formal Organization.”

Most of the few existing studies into “hidden life” were carried out in institutions for juvenile delinquents and reformatories for children and youth,¹ and less so in prisons, and even then primarily in prisons for juveniles.² Research in penal institutions for recidivists is very rare (one study for each institution).³ Each of these investigations, however, is deficient from the point of view of the subject at hand. In this situation, the formulation of any sort of statement or generalization carries a considerable risk of error.⁴ Furthermore, there are no works whatsoever dealing with semi-open penal institutions.

Varieties and Types of Penal Institutions

The Executive Penal Code divides penal institutions into: work centers, ordinary penal institutions, transitory penal institutions, penal institutions for juveniles, penal institutions for recidivists, and penal institutions for convicts requiring special medical measures.⁵

The basis for distinguishing these varieties of penal institutions admitting felons sentenced to imprisonment were various factors such as: age, the nature of the crime, previous record, degree of social deviation, and progress in resocialization (as in the case of the transitory penal institutions to which a convict can be sent after earlier confinement in other types of institutions).⁶ Furthermore, the penal institutions can be divided into types,⁷ and the foundation of this typology is the regime of the confinement, together with the functional architecture, the categories of the convicts, and the principles of suitable penitentiary policy. These types include: (1) a closed penal institution (the convicts stay the entire time within the bounds of the institution); (2) a semi-open penal institution (the convicts work outside the institution to which they return after work); (3) an open penal institution (in reality non-existent).

My research deals with those examples which reflect the differentiation of the organization of penal institutions. The differentiation was conducted mainly from the point of view of:

1. the degree of isolation of the inmates from the outside world and the resultant prison regime defined by the type of the institution: closed penal institution; semi-open penal institution.

2. age and previous confinement in penal institutions (prison experience) expressed in the varieties of institutions: penal institutions for juveniles (17–21 years of age); penal institutions for first offenders (21 years of age and over); penal institutions for recidivists (multiple offenders).

I have omitted other institutions because of their small number or atypical character (for example, those intended for the mentally ill).

A Prison for Juveniles (Institution A)

In this institution sentences are served by people from 17 to 21 years of age. There are also inmates older than 21. This is permitted by ruling no. 11 issued by the Minister of Justice on January 25, 1947, regarding the existing regulations for confinement in which paragraph 19 of decree 2 says: “Convicts who are over 21 years of age can continue to serve their sentences in penal institutions for juveniles if this is purposeful for reasons of resocialization or because of the short period of time left until release.” This decision is supplemented by paragraph 20 which says that convicts older than 21 years of age can remain in an institution for juveniles “if this is supported by reasons of resocialization and especially by the need for a didactic influence of the environment.” The number of these convicts in penal institutions for juveniles is determined by ruling no. I issued by the Central Director of the Penitentiary Administration (January 10, 1975) in which paragraph 22 says that: “Adult convicts can serve sentences in penal institutions for juveniles and all told number of the adult convicts, mentioned in paragraph 20 of the regulations concerning confinement cannot exceed 25 percent of the population of the penal institution for juveniles.”

In 1976 and 1977 there were about 1,000 convicts in institution A who served sentences in a rigid and basic regime. Juveniles who had no more than ten years left to serve and who belonged to health categories A, B and C were also conveyed here.

The institution includes a carpentry shop employing the majority of the convicts. They make crates, wooden containers, chairs, and wardrobes. The inmates perform simple tasks and, although machines and tools are used, most of the work calls for physical strength and average manual skills—making crates, gluing, handling carpentry machines. The prisoners also clean up, transport raw materials and products, unload and arrange timber in a sawmill belonging to the factory, and so forth. Persons employed in the production of particular articles are judged according to imposed norms which estimate the number of items to be made. The administration of the factory includes civil workers (not members of the prison staff). The management, foremen, and other workers in the factory deal with the organization and overseeing of production, while the prison staff are responsible for controlling the behavior of the inmates.

Penal institution A also has auxiliary shops. According to the official classifications of the Central Administration of Penal Institutions the work performed in this factory includes small-scale metal and wood production, book binding, electrical equipment and radio-television mechanics. Actually, this comes down to small jobs in the workshops which are part of the training provided by the elementary vocational school (and vocational high school). The school has few tools and machines, and large-scale production is not possible. The school workshops offer more extensive service only to the penal institution. The primary school in A is attended by all inmates with incomplete elementary education.

The convicts are employed as assistants in the prison administrative offices, the laundry, the kitchen, and the boiler room. They perform various chores as orderlies, in the library, the barbershop, the recreation hall, and the radio network, and they make posters and bulletin boards.

A Prison for Recidivists (Institution B)

In 1977 and 1978 institution B had about 1,500 convicts sentenced mainly on the basis of article 60 paragraph 2 of the criminal code. These are therefore people previously convicted by the courts on at least two occasions for committing the same or similar crimes. The majority are adults, although there are so-called juvenile multiple offenders as well.

Institution B has a metal shop employing most of the convicts, making chain-link fences, containers, and other metal articles. It also has a large machine park with lathes, milling machines, galvanization tubs, presses, and other equipment and tools necessary for production. The prisoners working here are expected to have special skills. This is why, apart from training its own specialists needed by the factory, the institution admits recidivists with appropriate qualifications from other penitentiaries. Prisoners employed in the factory are accounted for according to the imposed norms of production. The metal shop is administered by civil employees, but prison staff oversee the inmates’ behavior.

Institution B also has auxiliary workshops where cardboard boxes are made and books bound. As part of an assembly system of production the prisoners work on electronic equipment.

Just as in institution A, the inmates are employed in administrative and janitorial work. There is a primary school which has “periodic” vocational training courses, mainly for those jobs required by the prison enterprises.

A Semi-open Prison for First Offenders (Institution C)

In institution C terms are served by adults over the age of 21. The majority have already served part of their sentences in closed penal institutions and were transferred to institution C for the final part of their terms (usually from three to five years). The inmates are classified as suitable for confinement in a semi-open institution (imprisonment for petty crimes, good behavior). They are subject to a basic or lenient regime, and hold health categories A, B, and C.

In 1980 there were about 900 prisoners in institution C. Almost 90 percent worked in state enterprises outside the prison in nearby villages and localities. Select groups were transported to work in brickworks, sawmills, furniture factories, bus factories, and state agricultural farms.

The institution has so-called external departments which are somewhat like branches of the penitentiary located next to state agricultural farms (some managed by the institution itself). For this reason, institution C primarily admits inmates with a farming background. The convicts are periodically employed in building roads, flood campaigns, forestry, etc. In the institution itself a small group of inmates makes rubber articles. Some prisoners, as in institutions A and B, are assigned to administrative work or cleaning. The inmates employed by these enterprises are subordinated to the administration of the enterprises in fulfilling production tasks. Their behavior is constantly or periodically controlled by the prison staff (the patrol system). The latter also monitor the transportation of the inmates to their workplaces and back to the prison. The convicts can supplement their education in a vocational high school and an elementary school, both situated in the institution.

The employment of prisoners in institution C is dictated by imposed economic plans, not according to the production value, but the number of work hours. Hence the institution has made agreements with certain branches of the state economy which suffer from shortages of workers, and hires out its work force. There is a regional shortage of workers in the area in which the institution is located, and, in practice, many enterprises make efforts to employ the prisoners. In this situation the position of the institution, or more precisely of its directors, remains strong in the region.