No. 48

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Recidivism Among Persons Released from Open and Closed Prisons

14 December 2023

Studies

RiTo No. 48, 2023

  • Agne Arumägi

    Agne Arumägi

    Investigator, Crimes Against Persons Offence Proceedings Group, Ida-Harju Police Station, North Prefecture, Police and Border Guard Board

In this article, the meaning of recidivism is that a person who has committed an offence before commits a new offence within two years and is convicted for this.

The aim of the study was to determine the level of recidivism in closed prisons and in open prisons. The two-year recidivism rate of the persons released from open prisons over the whole period studied is 29 per cent, while the recidivism rate of those released from closed prisons is 39 per cent.

Conditional early release with electronic surveillance is the most effective, with a recidivism rate of 11 per cent for the persons released from open piisonis and 18 per cent for those released from closed prisons.

This is followed by conditional early release, where the recidivism rate is 21 per cent for the persons released from open prisons and 30 per cent for the persons released from closed prisons.

Based on these results, the author’s first proposal is to increase the proportion of prisoners serving their sentences in open prisons. The release from an open prison is smoother for the prisoner, as open prison is more similar to life outside prison.

The second proposal is to increase the number of places in open prisons, because if the proportion of open prisons is increased, the number available places would not be sufficient.

The third proposal is to ensure that the prisoners serving their sentences in open prisons would spend sufficient time in open prisons, as longer time in open prisons reduces the recidivism rate.

The fourth proposal is to increase the number of prisoners under electronic surveillance, as the recidivism rate is lower among them.

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