Prague - The morning alarm sounds and then, he who is in form, and in uniform, is ordered to work. In a year or two, that is precisely how Czech prisons could look like.
The Czech Minister of Justice, Jiří Pospíšil (Civic Democrats - ODS), is planning to get rid of the last obstacle which keeps prisoners from working by changing the voluntary unpaid work for the private sector into compulsory.
"We want to impress upon and instill a philosophy, that a prisoner, if he is fit enough and if there is an offer of work, has to work," the Minister said.
At present, prisoners have an obligation to work only for the state. That is supposed to change soon, though.
Members of Parliament approved a law at the end of October this year, which does not permit any prisoner to say no to work offered to them by the municipality or by NGOs. The new ruling and guidelines should take effect at the beginning of 2008.
International obligations
However, the Czech Republic made a contract with the International Labour Organization, that it will suppress all forms of forced or compulsory labour.
According to this, contracted prisoners should not be hired or forced to work for private companies, and labour would not be allowed even when a company is involved in community service or has workshops inside the prison area.
The Ministry of Justice admits that they are undecided how to evade or censure this accord, signed 80 years ago, nor do they say whether they are considering annulling it.
"We are exploring options and possibilities in order to prepare the law so that it won't clash with international contracts," a spokeswoman of the Ministry, Zuzana Kuncová, stated for Aktuálně.cz.
Rejection? No prison jaunts, no parcels
Infobox
Who will take precedence in employing prisoners?
- A law which imposes prisoners to work for municipality, will pass in the first month of 2008. Compulsory work for private firms will be enforced likely one year later.
- The Ministry does not believe there will be any special recommendation or regulation as to which job offer should be preffered, whether for municipality, or for a private company.
- For prisoners and for prisons, however, a job will make the difference. Even today they can earn much more money in the private sector than while working in state workshops or for municipality.
- "The law does not solve this," the Ministry admits. "Employing prisoners is usually considered only consistent with the possibilities the prison offers or allows, or, to the possibilities in those jails where they have been permitted to them. We do not have any problems with rivalry, generally. On the contrary, the Prison Service takes large efforts to initiate the work," a spokeswoman says.
- A Czech working prisoner earns on average a salary of 4 286 Czech crowns. The state pays more than 100 million Czech crowns in remunerations. In 2005 the cost was 118 million Czech crowns.
This new law, which is now being prepared by the Ministry, indeed speaks about an obligation to work, but does not mention sanctions, if one does not work.
The Ministry maintains that it has not used disciplinary punishment within the law, but that there are several ways of punishing prisoners for their reluctance against work.
"They would be dealt with the same way as with any uncooperative prisoner. For example, a prison tutor wouldn't be allowed additional privileges to receive a constitutional walk or perhaps receive mail or a parcel.
A prisoner who cooperates, on the other hand is studying for example or working is given a lot of those additional privileges," Kuncová says.
However, the experience from the Czech Prison Service says that prisoners want to work. The problem is that there haven't been enough job opportunities for those in jail.
Only few can work outside the prison. There are some workshops inside prison areas, but not enough for the number of those incarcerated.
In 2005, for example, on average 1,170 people worked in 14 prisons, according to the Czech Prison Service annual report.
According to the Ministry of Justice, 46% out of 13 thousand prisoners are able and working this year. 2641 of those prisoners in jail are voluntarily working for private companies. Presently, there is more than 19 thousand people imprisoned in the Czech Republic.
