NCJ Number
130286
Journal
American Jails Volume: 5 Issue: 2 Dated: (May/June 1991) Pages: 85,87-88,90
Date Published
1991
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This overview of Austria's jails and prisons discusses staffing issues and inmate housing and activities in Vienna's main jail and includes a brief report on crime in Vienna and Austria's criminal justice system.
Abstract
All courts, jails, prisons, and related correctional services in Austria's nine provinces are administered by the Federal Ministry of Justice. In Austria, persons under age 14 cannot be sentenced to a correctional institution; those between the ages of 14-19 can be sentenced to a special institution established for them. Offenders also can be sentenced to probation as an alternative to prison. There are three types of penal institutions: court prisons which primarily house pretrial inmates and, in some instances, persons serving sentences up to one year; penitentiaries for those serving sentences of more than one year; and special penal institutions for juveniles, mentally disabled offenders, offenders addicted to drugs or alcohol, and dangerous recidivists. Austria's correctional system, which has an approximate capacity of 7,500, recorded a count of roughly 6,000 in September 1990, a marked decline from the 8,500 of 1988. Both administrators and staff appear to be well qualified. Vienna's main jail, the Gray House, is experiencing overcrowding but is able to provide a broad range of social services to inmates and their families. 2 footnotes