HM Prison Hatfield, South Yorkshire, an open prison in England

An open prison (open jail) is any jail in which the prisoners are trusted to complete sentences with minimal supervision and perimeter security and are often not locked up in their prison cells. Prisoners may be permitted to take up employment while serving their sentence. This provides an opportunity for criminals to reintegrate into society and withdrawal from their criminal behavior. Without the constraints and stresses of typical incarcerations, criminals can discover more positive lifestyles through support and light supervision from the criminal justice system. Open prisons provide the opportunity for prisoners to increase their mental health and opportunity for employment. Some scholars have pointed out that new forms of “pains of imprisonment” can arise within open prisons, due to the stresses of “liberty under constraint.”[1]

United Kingdom

In the UK, open prisons are often part of a rehabilitation plan for prisoners moved from closed prisons. They may be designated "training prisons" and are only for prisoners considered a low risk to the public.

Indonesia

In Indonesia, open prisons have been used to substitute immigrant detention centers and closed prison incarceration. This change has been helpful in creating a humane environment for immigrants that is less confining than incarceration and detention centers. These open prisons tend to do a better job at providing basic needs and creating better conditions than detention centers. The assistance of the International Organization of Migration contributed to Indonesia's government efforts to create alternative systems to detention. In 2018, refugees and asylum seekers no longer housed in immigration detention centers, and open prisons became one of trial substitutes for immigrants. Entry into open prisons may be dependent upon agreements to follow Indonesia law, consistently report to local authorities, and adhere to discretionary rules while being in the country.

The idea of an open prison is often criticized by members of the public and politicians, despite its success towards rehabilitation compared to older, more draconian methods.[2] Prisoners in open jails do not have complete freedom and are only allowed to leave the premises for specific purposes, such as going to an outside job.[3] In Ireland, there has been controversy about the level of escape from open prisons, attributed to their use by the Irish Prison Service not just to transfer prisoners suitable for open conditions, but also to reduce overcrowding in closed prisons. The idea of open prisons is to rehabilitate prisoners rather than to punish them.[4]

Examples of open prisons

India

Ireland

Philippines

United Kingdom

England (men's)
England (women's)
Wales
Scotland

Offener Vollzug in Germany

In Germany the "Offener Vollzug" is part of the rehabilitation process for about 16% of prisoners.[6]

In fiction

Trumble, a fictional open prison in Florida, is the major setting for John Grisham's novel The Brethren.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Shammas, Victor Lund (January 2014). "The pains of freedom: Assessing the ambiguity of Scandinavian penal exceptionalism on Norway's Prison Island". Punishment & Society. 16 (1): 104–123. doi:10.1177/1462474513504799. ISSN 1462-4745. S2CID 145330708.
  2. ↑ "'Skull Cracker' Michael Wheatley absconds from open prison". BBC News. 5 May 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
  3. ↑ James, Erwin (3 January 2011). "Why life in an open prison is no holiday camp". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
  4. ↑ Reilly, Michael (6 May 2009). "Annual Report 2008". Office of the Inspector of Prisons.
  5. ↑ Martinez Cantera, Angel L. (7 October 2015). "Life inside the Philippines' prison without walls". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 10 February 2023. Retrieved 22 February 2023.
  6. ↑ Justizvollzug: Strafgefangene nach Geschlecht, Alter und Art des Vollzugs, voraussichtliche Vollzugsdauer Archived 14 March 2014 at the Wayback Machine from the Federal Statistical Office of Germany

Andvig, E., Koffeld-Hamidane, S., Ausland, L. H., & Karlsson, B. (2021). Inmates’ perceptions and experiences of how they were prepared for release from a Norwegian open prison. Nordic Journal of Criminology (Routledge), 22(2), 203–220. https://doi-org.library3.webster.edu/10.1080/2578983X.2020.1847954

Baumann, M., Meyers, R., Le Bihan, E., Houssemand, C., & Baumann, M. (2008). Mental health (GHQ12; CES-D) and attitudes towards the value of work among inmates of a semi-open prison and the long-term unemployed in Luxembourg. BMC Public Health, 8(1), 214–223. https://doi-org.library3.webster.edu/10.1186/1471-2458-8-214

Easing overcrowding in Indonesia’s prisons: Opening unexpected opportunities. Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. (n.d.). https://www.dfat.gov.au/development/australias-development-program/stories-impact/easing-overcrowding-indonesias-prisons-opening-unexpected-opportunities

Missbach, A. (2021). Substituting immigration detention centres with “open prisons” in Indonesia: alternatives to detention as the continuum of unfreedom. Citizenship Studies, 25(2), 224–237. https://doi-org.library3.webster.edu/10.1080/13621025.2020.1859193

Easing overcrowding in Indonesia’s prisons: Opening unexpected opportunities. Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. (n.d.). https://www.dfat.gov.au/development/australias-development-program/stories-impact/easing-overcrowding-indonesias-prisons-opening-unexpected-opportunities

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