Lack of financial resources leads to strained atmosphere in prisons

Lack of financial resources is driving Finnish prisons into difficult situations in which guards, inmates, and their families alike are all suffering.
      According to the Finnish Prison Officers’ Union (VVL), the shortage of funding has led to a state of affairs in which the purpose of the fresh Prison Act, aiming at sensible activities and rehabilitation of inmates, is in danger of being watered down.
      Moreover, when the number of personnel is not sufficient, the inmates are kept in their cells longer than before.
     
”Previously it was regarded as important that prisoners have some activities. Now the state officials have apparently changed their minds entirely”, says Jari Tuomela, the chairman of VVL.
      Tuomela reports further that for example the Kerava Prison could be forced to restrict the inmates’ evening movements, which means that the prisoners would be confined to their cells already at 18:00 in the evening.
      The situation has never been so tight before, says Ilpo Nummela from the Jokela Prison, with a long career behind him as a guard.
      ”These budgets are undersized in respect to our activities. The Ministry of Finance is to blame for the situation”, Nummela notes.
      ”First Parliament passed a fine new Prison Act, which puts us under an obligation to do all kinds of things. In practice, we are not being given enough money or staff to implement it”, Nummela adds.
      Even though the number of prisoners has decreased by several hundreds recently, the number of certain tasks in prisons has increased.
      In Jokela the inmates have been kept in their cells for days, as the number of guards is not sufficient. The measure is bound to tighten the atmosphere.
     
Officials at VVL believe that the cost-cutting measures will spread to other prisons as well. Some of them have already introduced an overtime ban. Prison officials fear that layoffs and even closures could also be expected.
      The directors of regional prisons are to meet at the Criminal Sanctions Agency this week in order to discuss the consequences of the insufficient funding.
     
The Probation Foundation as well as the association of prisoners’ families are also concerned, as two prisons have restricted their inmates’ right to meet with their families because of the shortage of money.
      Apart from the inmates themselves, the measures apply to some 10,000 people. According to some calculations, 300 inmates have about 1,000 children. When the number of meetings is restricted, not only the inmates suffer, but also spouses and children.
      Esa Vesterbacka, the director-general of the Criminal Sanctions Agency, says that in order to manage, the prisons have been forced to impose some adjustment measures, which have shown up in the everyday life of some prisons.
     
The inmates at the Kerava Prison are surprised and upset about the plans to keep them in their cells in the evenings because of the lack of funding.
      While understanding the budget problems, one of the inmates says that there is a limit to such cost-saving measures. He thinks that such measures should be inplemented in some other way, and not by revoking the inmates’ privileges.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  High security prisons overcrowded, space in open institutions (14.2.2007)
  Prison warden faces charges for using retention overalls (8.3.2008)
  Prison guards stage three-hour strike (18.5.2006)
  Cost of correctional services on up; prison inmates cost around EUR 40,000 annually (18.1.2006)
  Convicts may soon end up queueing for placement in prison (13.10.2005)

Links:
  Finnish Prison Officers´ Union
  Criminal Sanctions Agency
  Probation Foundation