Abstract
The Prison Service of the Czech Republic has long sought to educate prisoners (see the Act on the Execution of Sentences of Imprisonment, SARPO, the Prison Concept until 2025 and the European Prison Rules). These mentioned strategic documents declare that education, ie formal and non-formal education, which plays an important role in the process of resocialization, is used in the treatment of persons serving a custodial sentence.
At the same time, the education of convicts helps social rehabilitation and reeducation, which is important for possible future successful integration into society. Subsequently, we can see the crucial role of formal education and retraining in the release, thanks to which the above-mentioned persons can gain employment, housing and participate in resolving their past obligations1.
Obtaining employment for released persons serving a custodial sentence is an important prevention against recidivism. Within andragogy, and especially social andragogy, education and upbringing of convicts is considered a tool to prevent recidivism.
The research study compares the prison systems between the Czech Republic and the Nordic countries (Denmark, Norway and Finland), which are considered, due to their results and approaches to convicts, as models of successful prison practice, as the recurrence rate in these countries is one of the lowest. Specifically, the study will address the issue of the system of education of persons serving a custodial sentence in the above-mentioned states.
The aim of the study will be to identify differences in education systems and staff attitudes towards convicts in the Czech Republic and the Nordic countries. The content analysis of strategic documents and research studies from international databases (WoS, Scopus, etc.) will be used in this comparison.
Furthermore, the effectiveness of education of convicts and the impact of recidivism education will be analysed. The conclusion will be an overview of the identified differences in prison systems between the Czech Republic and the Nordic countries with an emphasis on education.
The formal education of convicts and its impact on recidivism will be compared. The expected finding will be an inspiring approach to the education of convicts, which is applied in the Nordic countries and will be modified into the Czech environment.