In my master's thesis I am interested in how to activate and express the voice of people with long sentences – their experience of the hardships of imprisonment and the consequences of imprisonment for their mental health, their experience of stigma, the (lack of) meaning in life and the challenges of the expected self-activation for their normalisation and reintegration process. In the theoretical part of the thesis, I define the concept of the total institution, present the purpose of penal sanctions and the functioning of the institution, the types of prison regimes. I link the latter to the question of the meaningfulness of the penological treatment of imprisoned persons and the functioning of probation services and other systems that should be involved in the phase of reintegration and normalisation after imprisonment in order to facilitate the exit from the total institution. People in prison have the choice to work with different professionals both inside and outside the institution. Furthermore, I present logotherapy as a psychotherapeutic approach that focuses on meaning, i.e. the meaning a person gives to their existence. I discuss the possibility and reasons for using logotherapy in the prison system. The question of the meaning of life is of course also important for the male population serving long prison sentences, as they are deprived of certain basic freedoms during this time. Under the burden of important life issues in a state of powerlessness, a feeling of the meaninglessness of life can arise.
In this empirical part of my thesis, I focus on the serving of long prison sentences in ZPKZ Dob pri Mirni. Based on the responses obtained in interviews, I assess how useful the methods and techniques of logotherapy are as a form of support and help for people serving long prison sentences in order to achieve more effective results of their rehabilitation and facilitate their integration into life in freedom. Finally, I make suggestions for innovations arising from the interviews with prisoners which, in conjunction with the use of logotherapeutic methods and techniques, could facilitate the resolution of many seemingly intractable and nonsensical situations.
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