• Producer(s):

    ARTE FRANCE, ECLECTIC PRESSE

  • Territories:

    Worldwide.

  • Production year:

    2013

  • Language(s):

    German, English, French

  • Rights:

    TV, DVD, NON-THEATRICAL, INTERNET, VOD

At a time when France is envisaging prison reform, other European countries have already been experimenting for quite some time with a different mode of incarceration, so as to favor rehabilitation.

Overpopulated prisons, round-the-clock surveillance, the perspective of repeat offences: inmates nearing the end of their sentences, particularly those who have committed minor offences, often lack the resources to prepare for rehabilitation into the free world.
 
"In the depths of the collective subconscious lies the notion that inmates must pay by suffering”, remarks Robert Badinter. And yet in Finland, Germany and Switzerland, nearly a quarter of inmates end their sentences in an open environment. A system based on trust and on the inmates’ work, enabling them to start afresh, sometimes far from their prisons. For a third of the running costs of classic imprisonment, these solutions are proving efficient, both socially and economically.
 
The investigation turns to professionals of the prison world and above all, to the inmates. In addition to being a potential and judicious approach, open prisons could become a major issue for modern democracies.