Small-Scaling Imprisonment in the Balkans – the ‘Holy Grail’ of Resocialisation?

Abstract

This study investigates the potential of small-scaled detention and transition concepts in the domain of imprisonment as the potential ‘holy grail’ of resocialisation, with a focus on the Balkans and relevant neighbouring countries. Intuitively, all the penological knowledge we have gathered so far points towards ‘small-scaling of imprisonment’ as an extremely feasible ‘new’ concept in minimising ‘detention damage’ while maximising resocialisation, thereby ultimately reducing recidivism and the overall harm of crime. Now, however plausible said assumption might intuitively seem to the enlightened penologist, it nevertheless calls for a critical scrutiny and preliminary empirical investigation. To achieve this meaningfully, one first needs to address the relevant tendencies currently shaping the penal landscape throughout Europe, particularly in the Balkans. We summarise these tendencies under the umbrella term of ‘era of penal contradiction’, in which mutually exclusive penal policies coexist and effectively undermine actual advancements in resocialisation and recidivism reduction. Said conceptual and empirical contextualisation will enable us to better understand the challenges and opportunities criminal justice systems in the Balkans face in their attempts to catch up with the rest of Europe. It is against this backdrop that small-scaled detention and transition concepts must be investigated, particularly in view of the strong and explicit support these concepts have been recently receiving from the Council of the European Union. Based on such an analysis, we conduct a first assessment of the potential of reshaping imprisonment in the Balkans in a humane and evidence-based manner based on the concept of small-scaling detention facilities.