VI)  Employment of convicts VI)  Employment of convicts There is no doubt about positive effects of work on convicts; at the very least work represents a meaningful way of spending time in prison. The purpose is also to preserve, or create, basic work habits while enabling the convict to repay debts. The management of the Prison Service openly admits that the prison employment figures need some interpretation. Official figures indicate that the average employment rate in 2014 was 60.97%. 43 However, in addition to convicts assigned to work, the figure also includes numerous convicts participating in therapeutic and educational programmes. In addition, the parameter is not derived from all convicts but instead only those who are fit to work. 44 It follows that the real employment rate is lower. 1) Real employment rate Convicts are employed if they actually work, take part in educational and therapeutic programmes or perform work necessary for ensuring functioning of the prison without entitlement to remuneration. The number of employed convicts can be related either to the prison’s total (all convicts) or only those who are employable (fit to work). In this way, certain prisoner groups can be removed from the calculation for various reasons – those who refuse to work (although this is a rare case – only 20 prisoners 45 in all prisons); those in the admission block, those with a state of health that prevents them from being permanently employed; those who cannot be assigned to work on legal or security grounds; those in protective treatment; those over 65 years of age; those who are fully disabled; others as specified in the Imprisonment Rules, or more specifically, those removed from the duty to work. Consequently, it is rather important to pay attention to the methodology of calculation of employment rates. example of a convicts’ workplace in prison premises My analysis of the employment rate provided by the Prison Service for August 2014 46 reveals that the real employment rate in the relevant period was 34.8%, see the table below. It should be noted that when using the methodology for calculation of the employment rate currently used by the Prison Service, the employment rate in the same period was 58.4%. This exposition is not to say that the Prison Service uses wrong employment rate calculations, but merely to point out how the figures should be interpreted. The real employment rate would be even lower if we took into account the working time utilisation. If the 43 Fast facts. [online] Prague: the Prison Service of the Czech Republic[retrieved on 26 January 2016].Available at: http://vscr.cz/generalni-reditelstvi-19/informacni-servis/ rychla-fakta/. 44 Under Section 69 (1) of the Imprisonment Act, a convict is permanently unemployable if (a) s/he is older than 65 years unless s/he applies for assignment to work; (b) s/he has been found disabled in the third degree unless s/he applies for assignment to work and his or her fitness to work is such that the assignment is possible; or (c) permanent employment is impossible due to the state of his or her health. 45 August 2014 figures. 46 The analysis was based on surveys of employment rates in all 35 prisons obtained during the systematic visits.. /21/