Correctional institutions Additional responsibilities An additional burden is that correctional institutions in the Higher Regional Court district of Vienna have to escort one-day furloughs. These deployments bind personnel capacity which is then not available in the correctional institution, particularly for work in the departments. Vienna-Josefstadt suffers tremendously from this and urgently needs relief due to its chronic overcrowding. The NPM considers an alignment of human resources with the real requirements indispensable in order to guarantee appropriate living conditions for the detainees and prevent human rights violations. The Federal Ministry of Constitutional Affairs, Reforms, Deregulation and Justice has promised to request an additional 150 regular permanent positions (Eb2) and 100 trainee permanent positions (E2c) in the next plan on permanent positions. It remains to be seen if this request is granted and how quickly these positions can be filled with suitable candidates. Considerable rise in sick leaves The successive rise in sick leave of prison guards has become a considerable strain for regular service in recent years (this was highlighted regarding Vienna-Josefstadt correctional institution last year, see NPM Report 2018, p. 130 et seq.). In St. Pölten correctional institution for example, 5,500 hours of sick leave were reported in the period from November 2003 to October 2004; in contrast, in the period from November 2017 to October 2018, the figure was 22,500 hours of sick leave. The number has thus tripled. According to information from the Federal Ministry of Constitutional Affairs, Reforms, Deregulation and Justice, this is predominantly long-term sick leave. Those on sick leave have been requested several times to undergo an examination by the public medical officer in St. Pölten and police chief medical specialist in Vienna. It was also promised that meetings to discuss the return to work would be held with the affected officers. It remains to be seen if these measures will have any effect. Vienna-Josefstadt correctional institution Regrettably, these return to work meetings did not have the desired effect in Vienna-Josefstadt correctional institution. The short-term sick leave failed to develop a downward trend too. The large number of staff on sick leave drove the employer to define measures for health promotion together with the prison wardens, and implement them in the institutions. Supporting measures Health days are held regularly in Vienna-Josefstadt correctional institution: a wide range of medical check-ups, vaccinations (flu and TBEV vaccination, hepatitis vaccination) and vaccination advice as well as a large number of keynote talks are offered. Furthermore, a psychological service staff position was established at the Correctional Services Academy (Strafvollzugsakademie) that, amongst others, is responsible for evaluating the physical and mental strain at the workplace in the correctional institution. 133