Information in English
26.10.2010 8:18
The Prison Valdice is located in the Hradec Králové Region, on the premises of a former Cartusian monastery, situated about four kilometres from the Town Jičín, which was founded by Albrecht Wenceslas Eusebius von Wallenstein in 1627. In 1856 was decided that the monastery should become a prison.
It is currently classified as a maximum security prison, i.e. increased guarded prison housing inmates serving longer sentences, recidivists and other dangerous persons, including convicts serving terms of life imprisonment.
The total accommodation capacity is 1092 places. The inmates are accommodated in five units according to the individual profiles of their sentences. There is an admission and release departments, to which prisoners are assigned after beginning their terms of imprisonment and prior their release, there is also a “distressed” unit and a specialised unit for prisoners with personality disorders. There is also a surgery unit with beds, where prisoners are provided with medical care at the same level as in municipal hospitals.
Activities for inmates are divided into five main areas: working, educational, special formative, leisure, and external relations. The leisure activities are oriented towards art, model work, gardening, music, and wood-carving groups. The educational activities are especially carried out within the training and educational centre, where inmates can complete their basic education or obtain a certificate of apprenticeship in a two- or three-year metalwork training course. Various leisure groups are organised, including foreign language groups, citizenship education, social-legal counselling, drug problems, as well as general knowledge competitions, discussions on selected themes, etc.
In addition to the above-mentioned activities, prisoners have the opportunity to make use of the prison library and watch TV programmes and movies at a time set in the weekly schedule. Inmates are employed either at workplaces within the prison (kitchen, laundry, fitter and carpenter workshops, etc.) or by some private business entities. Glass-making companies have the longest tradition of prison employment.
The prison employs over 250 members of the Prison Service and of the Judicial Guard and more than 170 civilian staff. The prison staff has opportunities, with the support of the Fund for Cultural and Social Needs, to enjoy various sporting, cultural and leisure activities. Also, excellent twinship sporting contacts are maintained with the prisons in Leopoldov (Slovakia) and Wroclaw (Poland).
