The penitentiary system is a set of various activities undertaken in correctional institutions with the aim of re-educating prisoners. Also, this definition is understood by the state institution responsible for the enforcement of criminal penalties.
The first institution in which imprisonment was based on the principles of correction, appeared in the seventeenth century in Denmark on the orders of King Christian. It was a shelter for juvenile offenders. In the same century, such establishments began to appear in the largest cities of Italy and Germany. A century later, in England and North America, then a colony of the British crown, a penitentiary system was born. Prison society in Pennsylvania was created in 1776, reformed in 1833. It still exists today. Members of this society belonged to the Quaker religious community and did everything to induce the perpetrator to repent - in particular, encouraged self-contemplation, daily reading of the Bible. But practice has shown that such a penitentiary system most often did not bring the expected effect. The exception was the few cases where prisoners were located to rectify.
The penitentiary system in the USSR and in the Russian Federation in the early nineties was managed by different departments. But it was so until the execution of punishment was not the main function of the Interior Ministry's GUIN. In 1997, the penitentiary system of Russia passed under the control of the Ministry of Justice. For today in Russia there are up to 800 correctional colonies, about 230 SIZOs, 7 prisons, 62 colonies for minors.
Social work in the penitentiary system includes two main aspects: psychological and legal. It is worth considering each of them.
Legal support is one of the main functions of a social worker. It often happens that representatives of the prison administration have negative stereotypes regarding prisoners. Also to this day, cases of using free labor in prisons are not uncommon. Violation of the rights of convicts does not at all contribute to their correction. Moreover, in those countries where the attitude towards prisoners is based on humanism, there are fewer recidivists. In re-education, labor is less effective than education. This was proved by Daniel Glaser, a famous American scientist. In his opinion, in the process of re-education it is necessary to use teaching methods, as long-term education significantly reduces the risk of relapse.
Psychological aspects of social work in prison are no less important than legal ones. For the first time getting behind bars, a person feels discomfort and tension, which often results in the commission of new crimes. The risk of injury to the psyche of the convict is 15% higher than that of the free will. In the mind of a person, after five to eight years of "imprisonment", irreversible changes most often appear. Therefore, in prisons it is necessary to create services with a staff of qualified psychologists and other social workers.
The modern Russian penitentiary system is still far from helping convicts embark on the true path. For example, everywhere in places of deprivation of freedom sanitary and hygienic norms are neglected. But there are positive changes in this area already.