ПРАВО

I.F. Kosichenko, O.N. Kichalyuk

South-Russia State University of Economics and Services, Russia

Socio-pedagogical aspect of the process of re-socialization of convicts

The domestic literature does not give enough description of social worker’s activities, based on moral and humanistic principles in relation to all categories of prisoners, but works with juveniles. However, social practice has shown that such a situation is totally wrong and it is necessary to rehabilitate all categories of convicted persons, because they all sooner or later release from prison, return to the society and inflict even greater social evil. Those who are life sentenced, while not influencing the situation in the society, but, nevertheless, have an impact on other inmates in a correctional institution, so we need to consider methods of social work for all categories of convicted persons. These methods should be based primarily on moral and humanitarian principles. As noted before, there is no description of the methods of social work with convicted in Russia because of the long orientation of the prison system to repressive practices against convicted persons. Therefore, in this situation we should apply to the international experience, trying not to forget about the peculiarities of the Russian prison system and adapt foreign methods of social workers in prison sphere of a contemporary Russian reality.

The deviant behavior, which is manifested in various violations of the norms of morality and law, inevitably attracts the attention of the society, through its various social institutions. And their main task is in social rehabilitation of a person, i.e., their re-socialization.

It should be mentioned that in Sociology the term "re-socialization" means the second stage of socialization, i.e., socialization of the socially mature people. The repeated socialization, or re-socialization, of adults is usually dictated by the conditions of the society, the social structure of which is characterized by the orientation on the achieved status. In fact, it means that the most dynamic part of population who actively participate in the industrial sector (in Western countries it is the middle class) during their life make their professional careers and promote successfully. Promotion to a new position and correspondingly a new social role can be the result of personal creative achievements in the sphere of production, science, or the result of special training. Moving to a new social position requires from a person to gain some additional knowledge, skills, adapted to new reactions and expectations of the people around, in other words, leads to certain changes in the structure of the personality, similar to those that occur in normal, primary socialization.

The process of the repeated socialization can be much more complex and greater in periods of sharp socio-economic and political upheavals. In the history of mankind there were quite a lot of similar events - revolutions, economic crises, national disasters, etc. During such periods, a social structure undergoes a radical change, some social classes leave, and their places are occupied by the others, the professional structure of society being changed. A great number of people unable to adapt to new social structure and its rules are appearing. For many people the harsh socio-political upheavals do not have a positive impact and end tragically.

The prefix "re-" in Latin means: 1) the resumption or repetition of an action, and 2) the opposite effect or reaction. On this basis, the re-socialization can be considered, firstly, as dismantling, destruction of negative, anti-social norms, values learned by a person in the process of asocialization (de-socialization), and secondly, as the process of acknowledging positive, from the point of view of the society, norms, values, patterns of behavior repeatedly or at first time. Depending on the conditions under which the process of re-socialization of a personality occurs, there are the following types of re-socialization - pre-prison, prison and post-prison [2, p. 45].

Pre-prison stage is connected with early detection of deviations in the process of socialization. In some cases, with the help of re-socialization actions taken both by special preventive law enforcement agencies and community organizations, and by families, schools and other educational and labor groups, we can stop the process of de-socialization of a personality, leading them to the positive development. One of the important types of pre-prison re-socialization is currently connected with the work of various institutions of social assistance and support, crisis centers, shelters [5, p. 25].

Children and teenagers whose poor living conditions made it impossible for them to live in families get into such institutions.

The main attention is paid to educational and preventive work with juveniles, which includes a specially organized system of social and educational effects aimed at a teenager and his family to identify the causes of deviant behavior and the creation of preconditions for changing it.

The organization of prison re-socialization, i.e., re-socialization of convicts during their staying in prison, is the most problematic. This is due both to personal characteristics of prisoners themselves, and the specific conditions of prison, where the process of re-socialization takes place.

The problem of re-socialization of convicts was described in scientific works and publications. However, it should be mentioned that the authors paid more attention to the legal aspect of this phenomenon, and that fact could not affect the definition of the very concept of “re-socialization”. Undoubtedly, two interconnected stages of re-socialization of a convict are thought of - prison and post-prison, the continuity between them will contribute to more effective re-socialization, achieved in a correctional institution, and their further progress after jail release.

It should also be mentioned that although the problems of re-socialization of convicts in fact have been paid a great attention, the focus was mostly on the final stage of punishment connected with preparation of a convicted person for jail release. In connection with this, the tasks of the re-socialization of the restoration of social relations, and social adaptation to the life conditions in freedom.

Re-socialization is considered as the activities of prison staff, whereby the process becomes something external to a convict. On this basis, it is followed by compulsory measures taken. It is possible to use coercion as a famous pedagogical method. But you can not re-socialize a convict, forcing him to new perspectives, values, without an internal decision by a person, without his willingness to accept and adopt new ideas, refusing negative ones.

The process of re-socialization is similar to the process of socialization. And the understanding of re-socialization as rehabilitation, re-assimilation of social experience, a system of knowledge, and socially approved patterns of behavior by a de-socializing individual involves the activities of a convicted person, who acts primarily as an active subject of this process. Being an organizer of the pedagogical process, correctional institution staff can only encourage prisoners, assist them in correcting their attitude toward the law and the standards of morality accepted in the society. In other words, it is necessary to create the conditions for changing, personal development, to encourage them to improve themselves. This system of external influences, including the activities of the subjects of education, should be considered as factors in socialization (re-socialization) which are the external conditions for personal development.

As to the foreign penitentiary experience on re-socialization of convicts, the most constructive ideas of re-socialization of prisoners were actively being developed in the U.S. in 60-s. They were reflected in the theoretical concept which was the basis of the “reintegration model” of treatment of prisoners. In accordance with this concept it is necessary to implement three specific processes in prison: the personal development, social rehabilitation, gradual reintegration into the society. When being implemented, this model proposed humane conditions of punishment, namely the creation of humane environment or humane correctional environment.

This, in turn, can be achieved by creating normal living conditions of a convict; the main components of such environment could be comfortable living conditions, safety, good food and medical care, absence of information vacuum, clear organization of the schedule, fair treatment by the prison staff. In addition, a humane environment was considered as a general condition for the implementation of other correctional facilities

Currently humanization acts as one of the leading ideas of reforming the domestic penal system. This not only is the revision of certain articles of the criminal-executive legislation, but also deals with such issues as the mission of the prison system, its goals and objectives. In this connection the question arises, whether we have any right to speak of re-socialization, if the purpose of the present criminal-executive legislation of Russia is the correction of convicted persons and the prevention of crimes committed both by convicts and other persons [1, p. 55].

The time of re-socialization of convicts should not be limited only by the period of preparation for jail release and confined to the work of the so-called schools to prepare for release and to solve work and everyday problems. The process of re-socialization is much deeper and more complicated. We must understand that first of all it concerns the personality of a convict and is connected with changes in his consciousness, behavior. This is the process of psychological development of a person, and it is rather complicated and long, and therefore must begin with the earliest days of a convict in prison. The most effective guarantee to prevent recidivism is the socialization of an individual, including the period in prison. Only a person who adopts universal values, requirements, standards as their own ones, can be considered as a socialized person, and only such persons can resist negative environmental influences.

Nevertheless, we can not consider the re-socialization of convicts in isolation, separated from the processes accompanying the prison punishment. Moreover, taking into consideration the negative nature of the phenomena that occur in prison and conditioned by the specific environment in correctional facilities, it is important to minimize the element of spontaneity of these influences on the process of re-socialization. And in this sense we can speak of re-socialization as of the managed process of rehabilitation, accumulation and development of positive social experience of a convict in prison.

The pedagogical aspect of prison re-socialization of convicts, in our opinion, is the creation of educational environment in prison, providing a real opportunity to a convict for their assimilation of positive social experience and behavior change during their being in prison, as purposeful training ideally involves full control of the process of socialization.

This idea allows us to consider re-socialization in terms of the operation of the educational system of prison which, in turn, makes it possible to study this process in the complex of factors affecting it.

Taking as the basis the interpretation of the original concept of “socialization”, we define the prison re-socialization as the process of assimilation of a convict (repeatedly or for the first time) of the approved social norms, values, behavior patterns, rehabilitation of lost or unformed social skills and habits. In this case, we focus on the fact that a convict is first of all an active subject of the process. However, in prison it is important and possible to make this process controlled, and due to this the prison staff should act as an organizer of prisoners’ everyday lives in the period of their being in prison [3, p. 34].

Now we need to speak about the methods of crime surveillance (monitoring crime). In describing the methods of surveillance, we rely on indirect methods of investigation. One of the types of indirect monitoring is an interview with criminals. An interview as a research instrument of study is a systematic activity with scientific purposes during which an interviewee is encouraged to give some verbal information with the help of a series of scientific questions. To carry out this method the activities of social workers who can establish trust, equal relations with a convict are really important. As a rule with the help of an interview we can study the person’s “criminal career”, which is based primarily on personality characteristics and their qualities which can not be evaluated objectively. To draw conclusions about a convicted person, to make the typology and the classification of the latter is possible only on the basis of the comparative method, the method of empirical sciences, where the results of research will only be true when they are repeatedly got in various studies. Based on the data from generic methods for the study of crime we can distinguish some specific methods and models of social workers activities in prison, based on moral and humanistic standards and principles. Western scholars identify several basic methods of social workers activities with prisoners. They are: a model or method of justice, a method of educational influence, which includes other different models: communal and group therapy, transactional analysis, the impact of the reality of the world, modification of behavior [4, pp. 115-119].

The model of justice states that penalty should not mean to cause a criminal any social, psychological or physical harm. Humane treatment of an offender is the primary duty of the society if it wants that attitude to have a positive effect and absence of recurrence. According to the model of justice the number of crimes which are followed by imprisonment should be significantly reduced. For example, serious crimes should be followed by a short – term imprisonment for about a few months, because it is considered that a long-term imprisonment is not as effective as a short – term one. It should be noted that in modern Russia this method is unacceptable, for short – term imprisonment only increases the number of crimes committed, as people know that they will not get considerable punishment for their crimes.

The method of educational influence involves the transformation of a prison into a hospital. It explains the occurrence of crimes only because of individual pathology and, on this basis, offers some correction methods and the impact on prisoners. These can include individual advice and group meetings, physical, mental and social therapy [4, p. 120].

Literature:

1. Criminal Correctional Code of the Russian Federation [text]. - M., 2001.

2. Kazantsev, V.N. Socio-psychological aspects of socialization [Text] / V.N. Kazantsev. - Ryazan, 1995.

3. Savardunova, V.N. Theoretical, social, psychological and pedagogical mechanisms of re-socialization of convicts [Text] / V.N. Savardunova / Penal system: law, economics, management. - 2007. - № 5.

4. Schneider, G.Y. Criminology [Text] G.Y. Schneider. - Moscow: Progress, 1994.

5. Shulga, T.I. Psychological basics of working with children “at risk” in social institutions [Text] / T.I. Shulga, L.J. Oliferenko. - M., 1997.