Transcript by Mr Catalin Bejan, Deputy Director General of

“REHABILITATION OF THE INMATES
IN THE ROMANIAN PRISON SYSTEM”
Cătălin Claudiu BEJAN,
Deputy general director
National Administration of Penitentiaries
Romanian Penitentiary System
prisons
hospital prisons
- 3 re-education centres
- 4 prisons for minors and young people
- 1 prison for women
- 2 training units
- 31
-6
11
31.700 inmates/11.500 staff members
Romanian Penitentiary System.
Social Reintegration of Inmates
“Preparing the detainees for release
begins immediately after taking over and
develops progressively, whatever the
length of the sentence and the
imprisonment conditions.”
art. 87
Applicability Regulation of Law no. 275/2006 on the
execution of punishments and of the measures imposed by the
judicial bodies during the criminal trial
NEEDS ASSESMENT OF THE INMATES (I)
Educational, psychological and
social assessment
Underlies the design of any
educational, psychological and
social undertaking and considers
identifying the main needs and
characteristics of the detainees,
aiming at designing the specific
intervention.
The findings of the appraisals
underlies completing the
necessary documents for decision
making in the commissions
formed at the penitentiary level.
NEEDS ASSESMENT OF THE INMATES (II)
Assessment instruments of the
educational, psychological and
social needs
allow a standardized
approach of the appraisal
activity in all the
penitentiary system, as well
as filling in the information
in the educational and
psychosocial assistance
folders, for every detainee.
The informations are filled
in the specific fields of the
computer program
application PMSWeb.
Intervention for recovery
Recovery undertakings for detainees are:
 individual
 in groups
associated with the educational, psychological and social
domain
Educational, psychological and social programmes
represent structured undertakings, made of an assembly of
activities which use methods and techniques specific to
each intervention domain, directed towards compensating
identified needs and risks, from the perspective of
delinquent behaviour.
Intervention for recovery
School instruction(I)
School instruction
of the detainees represent
one of the main methods of
the intervention for
recovery, taking into
consideration the fact that a
significant percentage of the
delinquents have a tuition
level below the mandatory
state schooling
Intervention for recovery
School instruction(II)
Comparative situation for the inmates school registration
3000
2605
2696
2421
2500
2131
2000
School year 2009 - 2010
School year 2010 - 2011
1500
School year 2011 - 2012
School year 2012 - 2013
1000
500
0
2009 - 2010
2010 - 2011
2011 - 2012
2012 - 2013
 Dynamic participation of the inmates to the school activities, reflecting the
evolution of the legal framework, with direct consequences for the
beneficiaries motivational factor.
Intervention for recovery
Training (I)
Training
represents an
essential activity in the
context of facilitating
social inclusion and
insertion of exdetainees on the labour
market.
Intervention for recovery
Training (II)
Evolution of inmates participating in training activities (2007 2012)
7000
6758
6359
6000
5000
4609
4375
4222
3918
4000
3572
3423
2960
2666
3000
1524
2000
1320
1000
0
Informa tion, counse ling a nd w ork me dia tion
a ctivitie s
2007
2008
2009
Training
2010
2011
2012
Compared to the general population, in 2012, the share of inmates in a trade
qualified by training programs is 11.2%, while those who received outreach,
counseling and job mediation is 12.2% .
Intervention for recovery
Artistic activities and culture distribution
Artistic activities:
 painting, drawing, graphics, pottery, sculpture,
technical, fretwork, handicraft, embroidery, arras,
basketry, tapestry, confection;
 reading meetings, literary creation, literary circle,
theatre, music, dancing;
 other artistic displays.
Cultural activities:
 galleries, films, performances;
 conferences, lectures, debating, reviews, book launches,
magazines, tv – radio local shows.
Other activities:
Religious activities conducted by Pastor unit;
Sports activities, competitions;
Activities with external partners;
Activities inter prisons;
Activities in the community.
Intervention for recovery
EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMES
Educational programmes represent a structured ensemble of
activities, which use psycho-pedagogic methods and
techniques and have as purpose compensating the
educational needs of the detainees.
The programmes being implemented aim at:
Knowledge
universe
Adaptation to
institutional life
Alphabetization
Health
education
Civic education
Family life
education
Intervention for recovery
PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSISTANCE (I)
Specific psycho-social assistance programmes ensure needs
compensation for the following categories:
Special
needs
Aggressive
behaviour
With psychical
affections
With
toxicomania
records
With suicide
risk
Sexual aggressors
Elders
Psychological counselling – semi structured undertaking with a
specific character, carried out with the purpose of prevention
and improvement of emotional, cognitive and behaviour
problems and assisting the detainee in identifying necessary
solutions for overcoming existing difficulties.
Intervention for recovery
PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSISTANCE (II)

Specific intervention programs for consumers /
individuals with a history of substance abuse and / or
alcohol

its established to support the activities of the multidisciplinary teams
comprising in all penitentiaries;
directs recuperative approaches addressed to this category of persons
in custody of the prisons, by the members of the psychosocial
intervention services;
implementation of these programs falls on the Department of Social
Reintegration efforts to meet the realities revealed by practical training
at the level of the prison (the prison population increased incidence in
former addicts, drug dealers and drug related crime inmates /
addiction ), and the need to integrate the efforts of the National
Strategy to Combat Trafficking and Drug Use


Intervention for recovery
PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSISTANCE (III)





Therapeutic communities
In Jilava prison of Bucharest, Bucharest-Rahova and Târgşor were
established three therapeutic communities, according to their
responsibilities
within
the
project
"Establishing
Therapeutic
Communities in Rahova 3 Romanian Penitenciaries, Jilava and Târgşor
The project is based on the principles of sustainable social
development, consistent with the philosophy, approach and methods of
therapeutic communities in Norway, which have proved to be effective
in the task of rehabilitation of former drug users;
Therapeutic communities provide a moral and ethical framework and
context for personal development, focusing on positive examples and
models that can produce a change of attitude regarding drug
trafficking and consumption;
creates the potential for a planning period of detention, guided by the
operating procedures and a treatment plan that will lead to increased
chances of social reintegration.
Intervention for recovery
PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSISTANCE (IV)







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The benefits for the inmates, while participating in such a
program are:
Prevention of drug consumption;
awareness of the causes that led to drug abuse;
formation of independent and critical thinking skills;
capacity building of emphaty, pro-social and interpersonal
competencies of relationships;
increasing the capacity of emotional self-expression;
self control improvement;
developing positive attitude regarding health and against drug abuse;
developing skills and personal resources;
self esteem strengthening;
developing communication abilities and assertive behaviour;
prevention of decompensation.
Intervention for recovery
Ssocial work programmes

Social work programmes cover the following problems:
Developing
decision skills in
risk situations of
breaking the law
Developing
social skills
Developing
parental skills
Developing
relations with
support
environment
Preventing
domestic
violence
Reducing reoffending risk
 Counseling on social problems - semi structured undertaking
with a specific character, through which qualified support is
conferred to the detainees, for improving and solving social
problems and preparing them for family and community
reintegration after release.
 Social mediation – entirety of undertakings by the social worker
of the penitentiary system in regard to public institutions,
associations or national and international organizations, support
environment of the detainees.
Motivating the detainees.
THE CREDIT SYSTEM
 Unitary system, objective, predictable, which
makes responsible the
detainees ;
 Objective, reasonable and transparent system, which determines the
detainees’ behaviour, pro-social;
The possibility of extending the ”Credit system” for passing from one
sentence regime to another, both progressive and regressive, respectively
for individual analysis and formulating proposals for conditional release
 Unitary practice at the penitentiary system level and eliminating
corruption.
 “Credit system” is formed from:
 Number
 Number
 Number
and social
 Number
 Number
of credits correspondent to every type of reward;
of deductible credits, correspondent to every type of disciplinary sanction applied;
of credits correspondent to graduation or completion of educational, psychological
assistance programmes and activities;
of credits correspondent to participating in lucrative activities;
of credits correspondent to risk situations.
How does it work?!
 For every category of activity, to every participant is allocated a number of credits,
established depending on the complexity of the activity or graduated/completed programme.
 Centralizing the cumulated/reduced credits is implicitly ensured by the computer program
application platform.
Continuity of the intervention. Project NATIONAL
STRATEGY FOR SOCIAL REINTEGRATION OF
INMATES
The penitentiary, whose
purpose is to reintegrate
detainees, does not work
without a solid partnership
with the society, and the
Romanian penitentiary
system, integrated in the
international penitentiary
system, has its own solutions:
developing a national
strategy for social inclusion
of the detainees
NATIONAL STRATEGY FOR SOCIAL
REINTEGRATION OF THE INMATES
It is the result of a substantiation
process of future inter-institutional
actions, correlated with the provisions of
the Penitentiary System Strategy (20122016), which aims:
 involving public and community institutions, associations
and non profit organisations;
 aattracting resources for carrying out the support
activities for detainees with the purpose of their adopting
life models, in accordance with legal and social norms and
of reintegration.
DISSCUSIONS
[email protected]