House arrest program still chaotic

The Justice Ministry has 90 staff members tasked with monitoring prisoners under house arrest despite there presently being only 33 such prisoners nationwide.

The development stems directly from a series of mishaps taking place since a new Criminal Code came into effect at the beginning of this year, leading Libor Vávra, president of the Judges Union, to say at the time, "The code has not been well-prepared in terms of procedural preparation."

In January, changes to the Criminal Code sought to offer relief to overcrowded prisons by moving some offenders into house arrest and lessening penalties for certain crimes, like driving without a license.

However, the Justice Ministry failed to procure the necessary electronic monitoring devices used to keep track of those prisoners before changes to the law.  

"Delays in the introduction of electronic monitoring devices lead to a reluctance of the courts to impose the house arrest sentence," said Jakub Říman, a Justice Ministry spokesman.

Nonetheless, the ministry's Probation and Mediation Services division (PMS) moved forward with hiring personnel to work on the house arrest program.

PMS has 431 employees, 405 are onsite probation officers and 26 work in administration, 90 of these were hired "in connection with house arrest preparation," Říman said.

"Probation officers' aim is not only to oversee the enforcement of the sentence, but also to make sure that the arrested integrate back into society," he added.

In July, new Justice Minister Jiří Pospíšil canceled the 2 billion Kč tender for the electronic monitoring devices. The Anti-Monopoly Office had been investigating the tender and issued an injunction against signing any contract. A new tender process is slated to begin in the autumn.

PMS Director Pavel Štern insists the additional personnel are necessary as house arrest cases are likely to increase in the future, and that in the meantime the new staff are handling other business.

According to Štern, PMS monitored 26,000 youth offenders in 2009 as well as 1,300 people on probation. Each PMS worker is assigned to more than 100 cases, he said. 

"House arrest is a new way of punishment that should start to continually grow," Štern added. "Experiences from the rest of Europe, and even overseas, have been mostly positive about the financial savings."

However the main roadblock to judges sentencing more offenders to house arrest - the lack of electronic monitoring devices - is unlikely to be resolved until sometime next year. When the new Criminal Code was instituted, the Justice Ministry said it expected criminals serving house arrest sentences to peak in three to four years.

"The role of PMS is irreplaceable - and key," Štern said. "Solely carrying the devices does not change anyone's manners or behavior."

- Klára Jiřičná contributed to this report.

Benjamin Cunningham can be reached at
bcunningham@praguepost.com