RESOCIALIZATION OF PERSONS SERVING OR HAVING SERVED PRISON SENTENCES (FROM THE EXPERIENCE OF BULGARIA)

In the period before 1989, resocialization policy emphasized resocialization through labour and improving the educational level of persons in prison. In addition, the state organs provided assistance to ex-prisoners in finding employment and in dealing with their housing problems. The distinctive characteristics of resocialization measures during that period were their being centrally planned, conducted under a unified methodical supervision, applied uniformly in all cases, and their very broad scope. After 1989, during a long period of time, certain factors and tendencies accumulated in such a way as to cause regress of resocialization activities. Only in the last ten years we can identify some positive changes. An overview of resocialization of persons serving, or having served prison sentences shows that most of the current practices copy the measures used decades ago. The differences lie in their form of funding and their implementers. A negative, and by no means negligible, feature is that activities are sporadic and not sustained in time. Project-based work is of limited duration and is discontinued after the conclusion of the project, though its continuation is of key importance for long-term achievement of the objectives. The scope of the measures is limited in terms of territory and the range of persons encompassed. This feature must be changed significantly. The fact that the rate of recidivism is considerably higher now than thirty years ago shows that there is much room for improvement with regard to resocialization.