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The profile of the Czech Prison Service Journal This thesis concerns prison service. In the theoretical part, there is a history and contemporary state of the execution of prison service in the Czech Republic and the Prison Service of the Czech Republic which is in charge of the execution. This part contains information about a transformation of the Czech prison system and the modern trends that exist in prison service. There is also information about the possibilities of public relation activities of the Prison Service of the Czech Republic. It highlights the crucial role of the media in public relations activities of these institutions and organisations. At the end of the theoretical part, there are descriptions of the projects regarding public relations that have already been implemented by the Prison Service of the Czech Republic. The main aim of this diploma thesis is to monitor the development of The Journal of the Prison Service of the Czech Republic, the Czech Prison Service Journal, regarding its content and its formal or technical site. Quantitative research was used to reach the main aim, which involved the method of analysis of products, as well as the technique of content analysis. It was discovered during this research that the Journal has significantly changed its content structure of published articles and its graphic representation during the last fourteen years of its existence. Besides professional articles that have been published, the Journal concerns itself more and more with current events within the prison service. It appears to be the goal of this service is to create a truthful and positive image of the Prison Service of the Czech Republic. The partial aim of the thesis was to find out, via questioning of public, whether the Czech Prison Service Journal is known outside the circle of employees of the Prison Service of the Czech Republic. Quantitative research was used to reach the partial aim, based upon a method of questioning people on the streets. This research proved that the Journal is unknown in the public. To make the view of the Czech Prison Service Journal complex, a method of a qualitative research, questioning, the technique of semi-structured interviews, was used to find out the opinions of its readers. The readers not only demand professional information from the Journal, but they also want practical experience from each of the penitentiaries and actual information about the Prison Service of the Czech Republic.

The primary aim of this research is to examine the extent which prison management has been influenced by New Public Management (NPM). Much has been written about the growing influence of NPM on public services like health, transport and education. In the prison field, however, the literature is relatively limited. Accordingly, with particular reference to the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), this research attempts to fill this gap in knowledge by exploring the influence of NPM on the SPS and its relation to the use of contractual management of prisons. Key concerns of this research are the development of prison policy during the last two decades, the use of “business-like” mechanisms to manage prisons and the accountability measures which the SPS has undergone as a result of NPM. The main sources of data are interviews with key actors in the recent development of the SPS and documentary analysis. Interviewees were asked during the semi-structured interviews to reflect on the key concerns referred to above. Material from the interviews was then integrated with academic literature, policy papers, annual reports, contracts and other published documents. This research concludes that NPM has affected the SPS on the dimensions of both prison policy discourse and of operations. For the former, the analysis of contemporary prison discourse demonstrates that the focus of prison policy in Scotland has extended over time from traditional concepts, for instance control, deterrence and rehabilitation, to embrace managerial ones such as effectiveness, efficiency and value for money. On the operational dimension, this research reveals that the extensive use of a “business-like” approach in the management of prisons, in particular the delegation of decision-making power from the Headquarters to prison governors; the use of contractual management to manage both private and public prisons; the use of contracting out for prisoner transportation and prisoner programme and the SPS’s focus on ‘customer service’. In summary, the influence of NPM is more far-reaching than the privatisation of public prisons as such. This is because NPM changed the way public prisons are managed by bringing in managerial mechanisms borrowed from the private sector.

This thesis argues that the Prison Service, while it has several unique features, is a bureaucratic structure with a typical mix of organisational strengths and weaknesses. The study of the development of the organisation of the Scottish Prison Service is, therefore, as possible and as proper as is the study of any large organisation. The first substantive chapter of the thesis analyses the historical development of the Scottish Prison Service within an organisational context. This has taken place in 3 main phases, the first two of which were sequential, the third less obviously so and more the result of the increasing involvement of central bureaucratic processes. Historically the Scottish prison system has been properly located within the criminal justice process and throughout the first 100 years of its modem existence the judiciary and the legal establishment played a central role in its development. The first phase or its history covers the years between 1835 and 1877 when it was taken progressively under central control. Particular attention is paid to William Brebner, the founding father of the Scottish prison system, and to the place of the General Prison at Perth. The second historical phase covers the tenure of office of the Scottish Prison Commission between 1877 and 1929. The significance of the Elgin Report of 1900, which has not previously been the subject of research, is described. The third phase of development which began in 1929 and continues today-has attempted to take the prison system out of the criminal justice process and to place it inappropriately within the mainstream of the administrative Civil Service. The thesis analyses the reasons for this and suggests that this structural change, rather than any lack of resources, is responsible for many of the present difficulties facing the Prison Service. The second substantive chapter of the thesis examines the place of the prison system within the sociology of organisations. By definition, an organisation can have only one primary goal. A feature of bureaucratic organisations is that those who work within them will not be satisfied with a single objective and are likely to develop secondary goals. One consequence of the location of the prison system within the mainstream of the civil service has been an emphasis on the secondary goals of imprisonment, principally that of rehabilitation, to the neglect of the primary goal which is the punishment involved in the deprivation of liberty for the length of time laid down by the court. A second consequence is the influence which staff are able to exert on the development of the service. The manner in which the trade unionism of prison staff has evolved in Scotland makes this area particularly worthy of study; an important and topical example is the control of difficult prisoners. The Thesis suggests that the management of the Scottish Prison Service is more participative in style than either the Official or the Staff Side recognise. Throughout the thesis many of the arguments presented are given support by responses to a questionnaire which was issued to serving members of staff and which is fully documented into appendices.

The modern prison service is formed by three principles. One of them is a principle of security. The penology security can be understood from different points of view depending on if we look at the problem as general public, prison staff or the prisoners themselves. The development of the prison service, its total cultural level and material conditions reflect the cultural and economic state of the society. The way in which criminal offenders are treated expresses the relation of the society to an individual and the attitude to civil rights and liberties. The work consists of two basic parts. The theoretical part contains all records concerning security within the prison service. The current prison service has to do with lots of problems such as overcrowded prisons, low prisoners´ employment, unsuitable premises, insufficient hardware and unsatisfactory professional and personal qualities of prison staff. The practical part describes the realised qualitative research method, a semi-structured interview. Representatives of general public, prison service staff and prisoners were . interviewed with the aim to find out details of penitentiary security. This work has been a probe into the penology problem. The findings and conclusions can serve as a basis for further more detailed and extended investigation in the Czech Republic as a whole.

The Prison Service of the Czech Republic has passed through a period of transition from the totalitarian conception of punishment and detention to a humanitarian one. The chief goal of the new philosophy of treating prisoners is to reach a positive change in the behaviour of a convicted person, so that he/she will be capable of living in compliance with the laws of this country in the future.Within the framework of this transformation the proportion of expert workers in the Prison Service of the Czech Republic increases,these expert workes being not only men, but women too. This degree work inquires into the role of women in the Czech penal system and provides answers to affrairs related to this aspect. The primary goal was the monitoring of women working in individual prisons and inquiry into their working risks and contributions. The authoress chose a combination of qualitative and quantitative research in order to verify hypotheses.

This thesis deals with the legal status of persons serving prison from the perspective of selected areas of their fundamental rights. Analyzed areas include the right to protection from torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, the right to protection of health and to free medical care, the right to be protected from any unauthorized intrusion into one's private and family life and the right to participate in the administration of public affairs through active and passive voting rights. The theory includes institutional guarantees ensuring compliance with these rights and the relevant recommendations of international organizations. Practically oriented casuistic section of the thesis is based on the direct experience gained during authoress' internship at the Czech Helsinki Committee, non- governmental human rights organization based in Prague since 1988.

Literature about prisons is dealing with issues concerning prison officers very rarely, since attention is usually paid to inmates. Therefore, this work is addressing prison officers and their perception of inmates. By means of semi-standardized interviews, key sources and kinds of information were discovered. These aspects are crucial for prison officers to develop their attitude about inmates with focus on category of guilt. Prison officer's approach and inmate's approach arose as dynamic categories changing according to the certain circumstances, which are described in individual subchapters in more detail, and also according to time. Differences were noticed not only among prisons, but also among positions of uniformed staff (escorts, wardens and guards). Since this issue is overlooked, but essential for gaining awareness, understanding and improving situation in prisons, it is crucial to do more researches on it.

The Diploma thesis deals with risks that can appear while doing social work in prisons or also risks that follow from its absence. The thesis has two parts. The first part is theoretical, written from expert resources, general facts and concerned on connection of social work with penology - prison service. At the end of this part the thesis is dedicated to risks that follow from the connection. The second part is practical, concerned on a research which was done by qualitative form via questionnaire survey. The whole thesis is divided into chapters which are logically connected. The aim is to find out how the social work determines imprisonment of custodial sentence and where are the risks of doing social work. The practical part supports, confirms and extends the theoretical part.

Uppsatsens syfte var att undersöka hur den ideella föreningen Bryggan och Kriminalvården ger stöd till barn med frihetsberövade föräldrar. Vi ville undersöka hur de yrkesverksamma tar barnets bästa i beaktning och hur de använder och definierar begreppet “barnperspektiv” i sin verksamhet. Studien genomfördes med en kvalitativ metod genom fem intervjuer med yrkesverksamma inom Bryggan och Kriminalvården. Analysen av materialet gjordes med empowerment som teoretisk utgångspunkt. Resultatet visar att Bryggan och Kriminalvården definierar barnperspektiv på olika sätt, men att de båda verksamheterna har en ambition att ha ett bra bemötande i möte med barnen. Som ideell organisation jobbar Bryggan mer direkt med barnen och kan då i större grad tillgodose deras behov jämfört med Kriminalvården som begränsas av lagar och regler. / The purpose of this study was to explore how the non-profit organization Bryggan and The Prison and Probation Service support children with incarcerated parents. We wanted to research how the professionals in these organizations have the best interest of the child at hand, and how they use and define “children’s perspective” in their daily work. The qualitative study involved interviewing professionals that worked in the chosen organizations. The analysis was made with empowerment as the theoretical frame of reference. The result of the study shows that Bryggan and the prison service define “children’s perspective” differently. However both organizations aim to meet the children with a good treatment. As a non-profit organization, Bryggan works more towards the children, and can therefore satisfy their needs in a greater extent than the prison service, which are more bound by laws and rules.