Remove the Stigma, Restore Hope: Long-term Penalties and the Dignity of Convicts, as seen in the Context of the Rehabilitation Programs Implemented within Correctional Institutions

Monika BADOWSKA-HODYR

Zakład Pedagogiki Resocjalizacyjnej, Instytut Pedagogiki, Kolegium Nauk Społecznych, Uniwersytet Rzeszowski, ul. Ks. Jałowego 24, 35-010 Rzeszów, Poland , Poland

Abstract

The issue of long-term penalties, i.e., thirty years of imprisonment and life imprisonment, is a multifaceted social challenge in the context of inclusion from the perspective of the model of work with convicts experiencing such imprisonment. In the current socio-legal reality, the definition of the model of work with prisoners serving sentences of thirty years or life imprisonment should be supplemented with such elements as the meaning of life, hope, sense of dignity, subjectivity, responsibility, sense of guilt, the need for redress and the need for social recognition. Emphasis on such aspects of rehabilitation makes it possible for persons serving long-term sentences to become “exemplary” inmates within the space of a closed, reserved institution, simultaneously cherishing the hope that, even stigmatized by their condition and having only a fragile bond with the world of free people, they remain valuable human beings who have not lost their dignity.

Keywords:

long-term punishment, dignity, hope, subjectivity, social inclusion