Development of the Prison and Probation Service of Finland focused on underage, young and female prisoners in 2022

In 2022, the op­er­a­tional per­for­mance of the Prison and Pro­ba­tion Ser­vice was af­fected by the lack of hu­man re­sources in view of the ob­jec­tives and scope of the op­er­a­tions, the high sick leave rates and the in­tro­duc­tion of the new client data sys­tem Roti. Prison se­cu­rity was im­proved by es­tab­lish­ing new wards with in­ten­si­fied su­per­vi­sion and the de­vel­op­ment of op­er­a­tions fo­cused in par­tic­u­lar on un­der­age, young and fe­male pris­on­ers.

The first part of the organisation reform of the Prison and Probation Service was introduced on 1 September 2022. In addition to the organisation structure, the reform covered the guidance and management system of the Prison and Probation Service. The main goal of the reform was to improve the performance, quality, efficiency and uniformity of the Prison and Probation Service.

The Prison and Probation Service introduced a new client data system called Roti in May 2022. The introduction of the new system has burdened the staff, slowed down the client processes and impeded the compilation of statistics and reports.

The COVID-19 pandemic affected the operations and performance of the Prison and Probation Service especially at the beginning of 2022. Approximately 80–90 per cent of all known infections among the prisoners and the staff during the epidemic took place in 2022. Some prisons had to restrict activities because of outbreaks in the prisons. All things considered, we managed the COVID-19 pandemic excellently.

Increase in the number of prisoners, slight decrease in the number of gradually released prisoners

In 2022, the average number of prisoners was 3 056 (2021: 2 809) of whom 7.7 per cent were women and 2.9 per cent were under 21 years old. The share of foreign prisoners of all prisoners was 16 per cent. On average, prison sentences are short; over half of the sentenced prisoners served at most six months of their sentence in prison.

The increase in the number of prisoners was partly caused by the restrictions limiting the admission of prisoners during COVID-19, which moved their enforcement to a later time. Several restrictions were issued during the pandemic and the latest restriction on the enforcement of conversion sentences for unpaid fines ended on 31 May 2022.

The goal of the Prison and Probation Service is to transition safely towards the more open enforcement of sentences. In 2022, we were not, however, able to advance the goal as in the previous years. Only 22.7 per cent of sentenced prisoners were released through probationary liberty under supervision (2021: 24.5%). Likewise, the share of prisoners in open prisons dropped to an average of 42.7 per cent in 2022 (2021: 45.6%).

The daily average number of probation clients serving community sanctions was 3 502. The number of probation clients was about 9 per cent higher than in 2021. On average, 12 per cent of the probation clients were under 21 years old, 12 per cent were women and 8 per cent were foreign nationals.

The recidivism rates of prisoners and community service clients have not changed significantly. The recidivism rates of released prisoners decreased slightly during a five-year follow-up period. Half of the prisoners released in 2017 returned in prison. The recidivism rates of prisoners released through probationary liberty under supervision decreased during both three-year and five-year follow-up periods. All indicators show that the recidivism rates of community service clients have dropped.

Development focused on underage, young and female prisoners

In 2002, the development of the Prison and Probation Service of Finland focused in particular on underage, young and female prisoners. They were allocated more services and support measures and their placement in prison was developed by, among other things, drawing up a national service offering chart and individual charts for each unit and ward, training the staff, promoting a restorative approach and improving the cooperation between the Health Care Services for Prisoners and the Prison and Probation Service.

A ward with six places for underage remand prisoners was established in Vantaa Prison and a ward with four places for sentenced underage prisoners was established in Helsinki Prison. In the new wards, the needs of the minors are taken into account, for example, in the planning of the sentence term and the rehabilitation activities.

Wards with intensified supervision help to restrict the operation of criminal groups

The level of prison security remained good. The number of prisoners who are members of or involved in organised criminal groups or street gangs has remained at about 200. There has been a continuous increase in the number of prisoners and probation clients who enter the Exit Programme, which helps to desist from organised crime.

The Prison and Probation Service has taken various steps to restrict the operation of criminal groups and ensure the safety of other prisoners and the staff. In 2022, new wards with intensified supervision for prisoners, who need to be separated due to, among other things, their involvement in organised criminal groups, were established in Riihimäki Prison, Sukeva Prison, Mikkeli Prison and Turku Prison. It can already be estimated that the wards have functioned as planned.

Burden on staff resulted in high sick leave rates

The operational performance of the Prison and Probation Service was affected by the lack of human resources in view of the objectives and scope of operations, high sick leave rates and the introduction of the new client data system Roti. The introduction of the data system has, among other things, burdened the staff and slowed down the client processes.

In 2022, the sick leave rates increased significantly. They added up to 18.6 working days per person-year (2021: 15.5). A major factor in the increase was COVID-19. Other possible factors affecting the sick leave rates were the lack of human resources and the major changes in the Prison and Probation Service, such as the introduction of the new client data system Roti and the organisation reform.

In 2022, the net costs of the Prison and Probation Service were EUR 248.9 million. One day in a closed prison cost 233 euro per prisoner. In an open prison, the corresponding cost was 181 euro and in probationary liberty under supervision only 58 euro per day. Community sanctions are noticeably inexpensive. The most expensive community sanction is monitoring sentence, which costs society about 44 euro per day. The daily cost of the most commonly used community sanction, i.e. community service, was only 13 euro in 2022.

The financial accounts and annual report of the Criminal Sanctions Agency 2022 (in Finnish)

Further information:

Senior Specialist Pia Raassina-Terho, tel. +358 29 568 8421, pia.raassina-terho@om.fi
Senior Specialist Mika Ulmanen, tel. +358 29 568 8581, mika.ulmanen@om.fi