THE CONCEPT OF HALFWAY HOUSES IN THE POLISH MODEL OF SOCIAL READAPTATION OF CONVICTS – IMPLEMENTATION DILEMMAS

Abstract

The search for ways to optimize social support for people leaving penitentiary units is an incentive to consider the institution of halfway houses, which successfully reduce return crime in other countries. The idea of transitional homes is also made real in the Polish legal and social order, which is sometimes signaled in the literature on the subject. The study concerns research on the concept of halfway houses expressed by Prison Service officers dealing with post-penitentiary assistance in prisons. It raises the issues of the location of halfway houses, procedures for qualifying and directing convicts to this type of institution, organization and functioning, as well as the impacts conducted in the halfway houses. The indicated issues relate to the need to evolve the Polish model of social readaptation of convicts, as well as to conduct research on the effectiveness of the process of implementing halfway houses and their effectiveness in Polish legal and social conditions.

Keywords

• criminal recidivism
• Prison Service
• Probation Service
• probation
• social reintegration