In the bachelor’s thesis, the research about the role of social workers in prison or, in other words, about the contribution of social work in the assistance process is presented. The main purpose was to find out how the assistance process for adult prisoners takes place, at what point the assistance process is successful, what is the contribution of the social work profession in the assistance process, which needs they notice in prisoners, how they respond to them, how social workers collaborate with other experts in assistance process, how they face with dual roles during work, to what point they are independent at work and to what point they work at their own assessment, how they cooperate, what kind of problems they face in the workplace, what kind of education and training they have and whether they want any changes regarding their work.
The theoretical part includes a chapter about professional assessment in prison, characteristics of the social work profession, the role of social work in prison, and also a chapter about supervision and intervention in psychosocial professions.
In our research, we included seven social workers. The empirical part presents qualitatively processed and analyzed research results. The results have shown that they are mostly included in the assistance process before releasement from prison, that the social work profession has an important connecting role between different institutions, people who are in prison, and other professionals. Furthermore, they have difficulties providing essential needs that prisoners need for life outside the prison. The social work profession is not valued and supported. There is also a need for additional employment of social workers in prisons. The results have also shown good collaboration among them in and outside the prison. They want less paperwork which would lead to more quality work with prisoners
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