NCJ Number
73592
Date Published
1980
Length
5 pages
Annotation
The organization of prison industries in Sweden is outlined.
Abstract
Industrial work is only one of several occupational possibilities offered to inmates in a Swedish prison. Other occupations offered include agricultural work, market gardening, forestry, building, and maintenance work. In addition inmates are given the opportunity to undertake full- or part-time study, which can be either theoretically or practically focused. Inmates with little or no real work experience are offered vocational testing, training, and counseling, and an increasing number of inmates can work or study in the community through work-release programs. Industrial work includes engineering production as well as assembly work. Carpentry includes the assembly of prefabricated houses, furniture, and packaging. Clothes and textiles are produced as well as leather products and office equipment. Laundries have been installed at three prisons. Prison workshops occupy about 55 percent of prison inmates and produce a variety of products, from telephone equipment to road signs. Earnings are paid to inmates for their work, and both fixed-time rates and piece rates are used. Inmates incapable of work receive sickness benefits. The Swedish Parliament and the government make financial appropriations available each budget year for costs in connection with prison work. Such appropriations do not cover inmate wages, raw material, or teaching material. These are covered through income gained by the sale of prison industry products. Councils for labor and trade union matters exist in most prisons as a point of contact between the prison and the labor market. Responsibility for the management of Swedish prison industries lies with the National Prison and Probation Administration's Industries and Work Training W257=Department. Department. Guidance of prison production operations is a direct responsibility of the central administration. The administration's main aim is to promote the inmate's capacity to adjust to a working life after release.