Each of the fortieth prisoner managed to 2017, break out of prison. In no other country In continental Europe, this “success rate” is as high as in Switzerland. In France, for example, only one of 113 escape, in Germany only one out of 162. This is evident from the latest Space Report, Marcelo F. Aebi, a criminology Professor at the University of Lausanne for the Council of Europe has created.

However, In Switzerland, can not escape, so many prisoners because the prisons were bad, but because it relies on the open prison. In institutions that offer open prison, detainees are prepared for life in freedom. It is not a question of persons, which are considered to be dangerous. These facilities are also secured to the same extent as high security prisons. In countries such as Finland or Sweden, which also rely on the open prison, the Numbers are similarly high as in Switzerland.

The danger of a relapse is less

“You can’t make the open prison as a progression level to the prisons is, therefore, generally eligible,” says Patrick Cotti, Director of the Swiss centre of expertise in the prison. Prisoners would not be prepared step by step to the life in freedom, the danger of a relapse in the first months after the dismissal decisively higher. This is scientifically proven.

If a prisoner or a prisoner won’t return about during a holiday, this is not dramatic, says Cotti. Finally, it is not a matter of criminal offenders, which represented for the population of a particular hazard. Among them, some have mental difficulties or addiction problems. When she returned – voluntarily or because they had been picked up by the police, then you have to take in the result, the reasons for Flight in the therapy and the work.

“The company intends to primarily punish. But the prison service has the task to integrate prisoners after their sentence in the best possible way in the society – after all, 99 percent of the prisoners come freely once again,” says Cotti. Therefore, you do not judge the focus better, how many people would be moved to an open prison to a relapse, than how many were loose. Ultimately those countries in which an open prison plays an important role in observed rate, also a deeper Detainee as the author of the study Marcelo F. Aebi says. Only a very small part of the population is sitting in a prison – and this adds not, because many of the prisoners had escaped from the open prison, Aebi.

considering only the eruptions from closed institutions, Switzerland is in a much better: Only 6 out of 10’000 prisoners have escaped. There are also countries such as the Netherlands, which reported no outbreaks. But this, as the author of the study, collected outbreaks, says that if the Refugees come back later. According to his assessment, the Swiss prisons, especially those of the German-speaking Switzerland have a high standard of safety.

cut and roped

However, the police reported outbreaks from prisons, you would have not thought possible. A year ago, about three men from the Geneva prison were Favre escape prison – you had the classic sawed the mesh in front of the window and then with a Linen rope down. And in 2007, was able to escape of a prisoner from the Thurgau cantonal prison, after he was beaten with a metal rod from his bed frame with a hole in the wall. After that, he climbed over the seven-metre high courtyard wall, overcame the roof edge and jumped to the other side to freedom.

“After each outbreak will be analyzed in detail, as a prisoner has escaped, and the operational and structural vulnerabilities are addressed,” says Patrick Cotti. This has also led to a number of escapes from closed institutions decreased from 25 in 2011 to 6 in 2017. In Thurgau, for example, has been reinforced after the outbreak of the walls of the old prison tract, partially with steel plates. In contrast to the high-security prisons, some cantonal prisons were not as safe as you would like it, says Cotti. It was the cantons in the rule. Massive investment is required to increase the construction and operational safety. A survey of the Canton of Bern, for example, has revealed a year ago that four of its nine prisons meet the minimum requirements.All would be operated as it is today, would have to be invested in the coming years, 300 million Swiss francs alone in the maintenance.

(editing Tamedia)

Created: 03.04.2019, 19:34 PM