CONTEMPORARY CHANGES IN PRISON POLICY AND PRACTICE POLISH Dr. Monika Platek It has been frequently argued that prisons mirror society. It is less often noted, however, that the overall state of a prison can shape society. This is because imprisonment is not a one, but a two way process. Penal institutions not only demonstrate a great deal about social development; they also strongly influence it. Prison conditions, prison mentality and specific prison subcultures do not stay within prison walls, they expand and are transferred to society. Polish society, perhaps more than any other, is illustrative of this observation. Several periods of freedom were followed by periods of its loss. This oscillation in its history has created a subtle paradox. Within Polish society, a rather strong punitive attitude has been combined with a heightened awareness of problems within the nation's penitentiaries. As a result, Polish reformers, academics, as well as prison officials, believed that it was not possible to build a democratic Poland without reforming its prison system. A visit to Polish prisons in early 1989 would have demonstrated tremendous overcrowding and poor prison conditions. At that time, there were still nearly 100,000 prisoners housed in 156 prisons built for a maximum of 80,000. Prison guard and prisoner relations were tense, and work by prisoners was a great source of State revenue. In many ways, Polish prisons reminded one of a factory complex. Late 1989, in contrast, illustrated an entirely different situation. The number of prisoners dropped to 40,000 and access to prisons was dramatically eased. As a result, when visiting a prison one was often joined by members of Parliament, researchers, famous writers, and famous singers as well as visiting family members. What really happened in Polish prisons? How did Polish authorities manage to reduce the prison population in the course of only a few months? What had changed and how profound are those changes? Why can the Polish prison system be treated as a model for other Eastern and Central European countries? This article will attempt to answer all of these questions. THE HERITAGE OF THE PAST Poland, a country centrally located in Europe with a population of over forty million inhabitants has undergone revolutionary changes in the past ten years. While harsh criminal policy was the rule in the eighties, in the nineties the policy can be characterized as reformist. Although having had an extremely clandestine prisons, the Polish system managed to open its gates and allow a flow of information, programs and people working for and with prisoners. THE COMMUNIST REGIME Prior to World War II, Poland enjoyed a short period of sovereignty following nearly a hundred years of dependency on Russia, Prussia and Austria. During that period a new progressive Code of Criminal Procedure (1928) and Criminal Code (1932) were introduced.3 Although crime statistics rose in the 1930s, imprisonment was used as a last resort and the average term of imprisonment did not exceed six months. Following World War II, Poland was only formally a sovereign nation. The communist system gave the Soviet Union the authority to control many aspects of Poland's political, economic and social life. Important 3 Poland is a civil law country with a legal tradition based primarily on Roman, French and German tradition OSCE ODIHR Bulletin Vol. 4 No. 3 19