Slovenian Prisons – Tasks and Powers of Correctional Officers

In his diploma thesis, the author set out to describe Slovenian prisons, the work of correctional officers and prison statistics in detail. He compared prison statistics over the years, as he was interested in whether the situation regarding prison occupancy is improving or whether overcrowding in prisons is increasing. His proposal for improvement is to establish a system for managing stress and violence in the workplace for correctional officers, through workshops and the dissemination of good practice in Slovenia, the EU and beyond. All practices would be listed in a database where examples could be studied and their work improved.

Problem

In his diploma thesis, the author set out to describe Slovenian prisons, the work of correctional officers and prison statistics in detail.

Solution and Method

He compared prison statistics over the years, as he was interested in whether the situation regarding prison occupancy is improving or whether overcrowding in prisons is increasing. In doing so, he also wanted to find out more about the working conditions of correctional officers, which powers they use against convicts and whether these powers are sufficient for managing prisoners. In his diploma thesis, he put forward Thesis 1, which states that Slovenian prisons were also overcrowded in 2017.

Thesis 1 can be confirmed (situation as at 11 December 2017), as statistics show that 54% of prisons are occupied at more than 100%.

The capacity of institutions/departments is 1,292 (excluding PD), whilst 1,290 capacities are occupied. On average, prisons are 99.85% occupied (excluding PD), but it must be taken into account that transfers between all institutions/departments are not possible. As an example, I can cite the occupancy at Ig, which stands at 79.61%, but only women can be accommodated there.

The most occupied prison is in Koper, which is 111.82% occupied, followed by Maribor Rogoza with 111.11% occupancy and Ljubljana Novo Mesto with 108.57% occupancy. Regarding the overcrowding of Slovenian prisons, I would suggest that new facilities be built or that abandoned or unused facilities be renovated or extended with everything necessary for prisoners to serve their prison sentences. In his diploma thesis, he put forward Thesis 2, which states that the work of correctional officers is highly stressful.

Thesis 2 can be confirmed, as stress and violence are present in their profession. Their work is stressful because they never know what incidents or events await them during work. Stress affects their personal lives, and also the lives of their family members.

In the presence of prisoners, correctional officers are subjected to various insults or threats. Stress can also occur when a correctional officer and a prisoner do not have a settled relationship. Violence is most commonly present among prisoners, but various attacks on correctional officers also occur.

At the same time, there are too few correctional officers to carry out all the tasks assigned to them. As a result, 161 court hearings were cancelled in 2017.

Results

His proposal for improvement is to establish a system for managing stress and violence in the workplace for correctional officers, through workshops and the dissemination of good practice in Slovenia, the EU and beyond. All practices would be listed in a database where examples could be studied and their work improved. Their personal protective equipment could also be added to or modified with the aim of ensuring greater personal safety for them.

Additional correctional officers would be employed so that they could carry out all the tasks assigned to them. For Thesis 3, he put forward the assertion that correctional officers have insufficient powers to calm violent prisoners. Thesis 3 can be refuted, as it has been shown that correctional officers have quite a few coercive means for calming violent prisoners, such as means for handcuffing and restraining, physical force, pepper spray, baton, service dog, warning shot, firearms with rubber or live ammunition.

I believe that with the correct use of coercive means, a prisoner can be subdued. His recommendation is to establish continuous training in the use of coercive means and the transfer of good practice in the use/procurement of coercive means from abroad. On the basis of the data obtained and the description itself of Slovenian prisons and correctional officers, he found that he had headed in the right direction and that he had partially confirmed his assertions.

He found that Slovenian prisons are increasingly occupied or overcrowded from year to year. This occurs because more and more people resort to criminal acts, the cause of which is usually a lack of money or stress in life. The problem arises when there are not enough premises and buildings for convicts who would serve their prison sentences.

He also found that the work of correctional officers is difficult, stressful and dangerous, but that they have sufficient powers to manage prisoners. I believe that he has presented the problems in Slovenian prisons in detail – prison overcrowding and a shortage of correctional officers – which lead to more and more riots, attacks and protests by prisoners, which are the consequence of uncomfortable living conditions in prisons. There are also cancellations or postponements of court hearings in courts because the number of correctional officers is insufficient.