Inmates are not allowed to work because there are no guards

In two audit reports, the Federal Audit Office examined the situation in the 28 prisons nationwide and also looked at the aspect of rehabilitation measures.

Employment in a total of 452 companies within the prison plays a role. But the lack of staff at the prison guardhouse has a negative impact on the employment rate and thus on rehabilitation, the RH auditors find.

• also read: Court of Auditors criticizes media work under the Kurz government

130 full-time positions are missing

At the beginning of 2023, 96 percent of the prison positions were occupied. However, there was still a shortage of more than 130 full-time employees. At the same time, the number of applications to the prison guard fell by more than a quarter between 2019 and 2022.

The situation is particularly precarious in the state prison houses, where there are mainly underground prisoners and also young prisoners. The employment rate there is often not even 50 percent.

Up to 23 hours per day in cell

In the largest of these “Häf’n” in Vienna’s Josefstadt, only slightly more than one in four prisoners receive employment or other leisure care or training. The inmates, especially in the state prisons, often remain locked in their cells for up to 23 hours at a time.

In the Linz prison the employment rate was 46 percent last year, in Wels it was 72 percent and in Ried it was 58 percent. Garsten and Suben, who have large internal operations, had a rate of 86 percent and 75 percent.

In Austria’s only youth detention center in Gerasdorf, the employment rate was 94 percent.

3 hours of work per working day

In principle, according to the Court of Auditors, the average length of employment could not be increased sustainably in the period under review. In 2022 it was 3.16 hours per working day per prisoner.

Providing rehabilitation measures is the legal obligation of the prison system. As a result, more investment must be made in personnel development, recommend the RH auditors, who fear that the personnel situation will worsen further.

“Measure impact better”

The Court of Auditors lacks a key figure that measures the effect of the rehabilitation measures with regard to the recidivism of released prisoners.

In order to measure the impact qualitatively, the Ministry of Justice is recommended to consult relevant scientific institutions, particularly from the university sector, in order to obtain in-depth studies on the effectiveness of the penal system and the living situation of former prisoners.

The execution of sentences and measures costs almost 600 million euros per year. Around 9,100 people are currently locked up.

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