Correctional institutions 2.5.7 Personnel 2.5.7.1 Psychological supervision for prison employees Regular psychological supervision is important to ensure the health of personnel and the maintenance and improvement of their working capability. Psychological supervision is a recognised instrument of psychological hygiene for the prevention of burnout, mobbing and violence. Verbal processing of experiences provides relief, especially in cases of excessive stress or after particularly difficult operations. Purpose and meaning The NPM has emphasised in the past that it is the facility management’s task to motivate employees to avail themselves of psychological supervision. There is often ignorance or prejudice on the part of employees regarding what psychological supervision can effect. Overcoming these reservations should be a concern of superiors. Existing reservations During its visits last year, the NPM repeatedly observed that prison guards make very little use of psychological supervision. To reconcile and empirically prove these observations, the Federal Ministry was asked to provide the figures on psychological supervision for police officers and care providers at correctional institutions for 2016. The result was that fewer than 10% of all prison guards nationwide availed themselves of psychological supervision in 2016. By contrast, in the same period about half of all care providers availed themselves of psychological supervision. Non-law enforcement personnel are much more open-minded It can generally be assumed that both care providers and police officers are subject to high stress in their daily work. Prison guards are generally the first responders when there are suicide attempts or suicides at the institution and must take appropriate defensive, first aid and resuscitation measures. These are especially stressful situations. Another core task of prison guards is to maintain order and security in the institution: police officers must intervene in conflicts between inmates and during attacks on employees. This is especially true for members of the task force. High stress in all occupational groups The low number of prison guards who avail themselves of psychological supervision is also alarming since numerous police officers complain of increasing psychological pressure during day-to-day work. This subjective feeling alone can create high stress during the care work that must be done on a daily basis. Therefore, it is all the more important to seek psychological supervision. In late June 2017, a circular letter was sent to all correctional institutions in which the Federal Ministry noted that few prison guards nationwide avail themselves of psychological supervision. All facility managers were asked to motivate police officers, above all, to participate in psychological supervision New decree 133