When other students are chatting at the shared kitchen table until the middle of the night, it’s almost time for Stefan, Jackie and Jan to get up. They are woken up at 6 a.m. Not from her cell phone alarm clock, but from a loudspeaker announcement and men in uniform. Because the three are imprisoned in the prison (JVA) Würzburg. Most of their fellow prisoners go to the JVA’s internal work in the morning, for example in the locksmith’s shop or assembling toys. But Stefan, Jackie and Jan are drawn to the lecture hall.
Well, it’s not really a hall, but the three call it that. Actually, it’s just a room with eight computers – a former detention cell. Here they rummage through study documents, follow lectures on the screen and write homework. Stefan studies business informatics, the other two economics. On the shelves are Kant, statistics books and “The Wealth of Nations” by Adam Smith. “I’m happy to be doing something useful here,” says Stefan. The course runs through the Fernuniversität in Hagen.
Until 8.30 p.m., the students can move freely between the cell, the lecture hall and the communal kitchen on their ward – i.e. their corridor area. At the entrance there is a sign: “Student station”. The atmosphere is quite friendly: light brick walls, lots of light. The lecture hall hardly differs from offices in freedom. A “Wall of Fame” hangs in the hallway with previous students and their degrees. Next to it is a sign: “Everyone said it couldn’t be done. Someone came and just did it.”
But there are bars everywhere. At the end of the hall it’s over without a key. Stefan, Jan and Jackie only have one hour of outdoor exercise a day. Her family and friends are allowed to see her for two hours a month. There is more than enough time to study.
Reading, learning, taking exams – that’s what the three of them have in common with students outside. But there is hardly any contact with fellow students. Between them are thick walls and barbed wire. Even digitally, they can hardly exchange information. Every e-mail can be read. There are only a few programs on the computers and no free internet. Chats are not allowed. “If I don’t understand something, I can’t just ask fellow students,” says Stefan. “It’s definitely nicer to study outside, but I’m glad I can study inside here,” says Jackie.
Stefan is already 55 years old and used to work in a bank. He was convicted of fraud. The 32-year-old Jan, who worked independently in the event industry, was also accused of fraud. Jackie, 41, is in jail for drug dealing. All three have different names.
Pedagogue Arnd Bartel (left) and Reinhard Sachse from the prison’s educational service support the student offenders. The graduates of the various courses are honored with stars on a poster.
(Photo: Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/dpa)
Arnd Bartel is someone who doesn’t just see them as criminals. The 56-year-old pedagogue – dressed in civilian clothes with jeans, shirt and waistcoat – accompanies the prisoners together with a colleague through enrollment, course catalogs and examinations. “As a teacher, I’m happy when I discover prisoners in whom I see potential,” he says. For example, he had a long discussion with a student about Hannah Arendt’s concept of guilt. With almost every sentence, you can tell how much the trained teacher cares about the students. He says things like “likeable young man”, “a really great guy”, “highly intelligent”, “lovely” and “cute” about his previous protégés. Bartel looks after drug dealers, sex offenders and violent criminals.
It is also thanks to Bartels commitment that the Würzburg prison is the only university prison in Bavaria. If an inmate from another prison wants to do a bachelor’s or master’s degree, he has to be transferred to Würzburg. Bartel is a fan of centralization. This makes the care better.
The relationship between the students and the educators is close. This is also due to the fact that the university behind bars is anything but a mass university. Just 34 prisoners have started their studies here since 2011, and five have graduated. There are currently five students. Some students “out there” can only dream of such close supervision.
Otherwise, studying in prison has advantages over studying in freedom. “I get everything served all inclusive,” says Stefan. Shopping, washing clothes, fetching literature from across the city, looking for an apartment – Stefan, Jackie and Jan don’t have to worry about any of that. They also receive money for their studies and are entitled to unemployment benefits. “No other students in our country can do that,” says Zersch, who is the contact person for inmate students at Hagen University. The students use their wages to pay their tuition fees, among other things.
Study after a crime and still get money for it – some citizens may get upset about it. But the focus is on resocialization. Stefan, for example, is studying computer science because he will no longer get a job at a bank. “Education and further training as well as the work of the prisoners are decisive factors for a successful resocialization,” says the Bavarian Ministry of Justice.
Bartel reports on a criminal who studied philosophy in prison and thus got a different world view, away from the previous “money focus”. He now works in social affairs. “Another came in a mentally desolate state and stabilized after his brain got fed in math studies,” says Bartel.
When it comes to choosing a subject, the student offenders are almost as diverse as their fellow students outside. By no means everyone wants to study law in order to get out of jail earlier. “I can talk law out of most people now,” says Bartel. After all, the job prospects went to zero with a criminal record. Theoretically, however, any subject is possible – including computer science. According to Fernuni Hagen, not every JVA allows this for fear that the students could infiltrate the IT system.
Stefan, Jan and Jackie are grateful to be able to study while they are in prison. According to their own statements, they do not experience envy from other prisoners. They didn’t feel any rejection from their fellow students outside either – despite some of the advantages of studying in prison. “Nobody wants to swap places with us,” says Jackie.