Science Fiction or Reality

DOI10.1177/0032885511424392
Published date01 December 2011
Date01 December 2011
AuthorDragan Petrovec,Mitja Muršič
The Prison Journal
91(4) 425 –447
© 2011 SAGE Publications
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DOI: 10.1177/0032885511424392
http://tpj.sagepub.com
424392TPJ91410.1177/00328855114243
92Petrovec and MuršičThe Prison Journal
© 2011 SAGE Publications
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1University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Corresponding Author:
Dragan Petrovec, University of Ljubljana, Institute of Criminology at the
Faculty of Law, Poljanski nasip 2, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Email: Dragan.Petrovec@pf.uni-lj.si
Science Fiction or
Reality: Opening
Prison Institutions
(The Slovenian
Penological Heritage)
Dragan Petrovec1 and Mitja Muršicˇ1
Abstract
The article presents probably the most relevant research to date on the
Slovene prison system. The study was conducted through a 2-year research
project sponsored by Ministry of Justice and carried out by the Institute
of Criminology in Ljubljana. Along with a “longitudinal” study of the social
climate in Slovene prison institutions, it evaluates the concepts, practices,
and results of so-called sociotherapy as a specific approach to treatment of
offenders. “Specific” in this case means that treatment simultaneously encom-
passes life in prison, the offenders’ social environment, and the inclusion of
prison staff. Sociotherapy began as an experiment during the mid-70s and led
to astonishing results, namely, the “opening” of prison institutions for almost
all inmates, regardless of the length of sentence or the crime committed.
Applying the findings of sociotherapy every 5 years since 1980, the social
climate in every Slovene prison institution has been measured to assess
the quality of support and control prisoners receive and the discipline and
treatment philosophies at work in the system. Finally, the article deals with
the situation after Slovene independence in 1991 and the passage of new
legislation. Against expectations, we find that with the advent of democracy,
standards of prisoner treatment have dropped. However, the success of
426 The Prison Journal 91(4)
the experiment should encourage all countries seeking to reduce the sig-
nificant costs of incarceration and attempting to make prison institutions
more humane.
Keywords
treatment of offenders, open prison institutions, social climate
Introduction
A large body of academic literature has criticized severe sentencing, the inhu-
mane treatment of offenders, and overpopulation of prison institutions. Yet
very few writers on this topic have supported the idea of transforming a closed
institution into an open one. Such a measure seems possible only when a care-
ful preselection of inmates is carried out.
Our review of some influential periodicals from the field of penology (The
Prison Journal, Probation Journal, International Journal of Offender Therapy
and Comparative Criminology, Punishment & Society, and Federal Probation)
has shown that in recent years, there have been no articles that would advo-
cate or present penological concepts and practices equivalent to the Slovenian
“whole-prison sociotherapeutic” approach.
There are some interesting mechanisms for reintegrating prisoners into
society while still serving sentence—for example, the open prison regime in
Spain where convicts spend a few hours a day outside the prison, working or
performing rehabilitation-related tasks, and also having leave on weekends
(Cid, 2005). Implementing such mechanisms, however, depends on a variety
of conditions (to qualify for an open prison regime, prisoners must have com-
pleted a quarter or half of the sentence and their reeducation prognosis must
be positive). Such measures do not, therefore, correspond to our concept of
how prisons should be truly made “open.”
Although most authors do not argue for opening prison regimes on the
basis we suggest, some do, however, recognize and support certain aspects
of our standpoint. In their follow-up study, Baumer, O’Donnell, and Hughes
(2009) found out that prisoners who were occasionally allowed to leave prison
for vocational or family-related purposes were significantly less likely to be
reimprisoned than those denied such leave. This is one of many clear indica-
tors that maintaining a prisoner’s social capital—for example, his social,
professional, and familial contacts on the “outside”—is greatly important
for social reintegration on full release. The potential role of prisoners’ fami-
lies in reducing reoffending is also explored in Mills and Codd (2008).

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