Prison overcrowding: Phenomenological and etiological aspects

Abstract

This paper discusses the problems of overcrowding in prisons throughout the world and in Serbia. Prison overcrowding is a global phenomenon, present in all continents, which is proved by statistics on the situation in prisons in the world with us. This phenomenon can be seen from two angles. On the one hand, there is a large number of prisoners serving a sentence in particular, short prison sentences; on the other hand, prison population largely consists of persons who are in custody. Given that these are different types of detention and the overcrowding problem must be considered taking into account this fact. In that sense it is necessary to analyze the causes of prison overcrowding. A large number of unconditional prison sentences imposed leads to the possibility of realizing the idea of re-socialization. Also, public opinion in most countries but also in Serbia believes that closing is the best way of solving problems of crime and thus put pressure on those who decide which further contributes to the development problems of overpopulation.

U radu se razmatra problematika prenaseljenosti zatvora kako u svetu, tako i u Republici Srbiji. Prenaseljenost zatvora je globalni fenomen, prisutan na svim kontinentima, o čemu govore i statistički podaci o stanju u zatvorima u svetu i kod nas. Ovaj fenomen se može posmatrati iz dva ugla. S jedne strane postoji veliki broj zatvorenika koji izdržavaju kaznu zatvora, a naročito kratke kazne zatvora, dok sa druge strane zatvorsku populaciju u značajnoj meri čine i lica koja se nalaze u pritvoru. S obzirom na to da su u pitanju različite vrste zatvaranja i problematika prenaseljenosti se mora razmatrati uzimajući u obzir i ovu činjenicu. U tom smislu treba analizirati i uzroke prenaseljenosti zatvora. Veliki broj izrečenih bezuslovnih kazni zatvora dovodi u pitanje mogućnost ostvarivanja ideje resocijalizacije. Takođe, javno mnjenje u većini zemalja, ali i u Srbiji smatra da je zatvaranje najbolji način rešavanja problema kriminaliteta i na taj način se vrši pritisak na one koji o tome odlučuju čime se dodatno doprinosi razvijanju problema prenaseljenosti.