ABSTRACT
Prisoner resettlement is currently a much-discussed topic in the Czech Republic. Czech prisons are overcrowded and the ratio of prisoners with an unconditional sentence who have already experienced a prison sentence in the past is unsatisfactorily high. Serious limitations, such as an absence of a more gradual transition from prison to freedom and the comprehensive system of support and services, sometimes problems with cooperation between relevant authorities, work overload of probation officers, prison social workers, social workers in the field of post-penitentiary care etc., are contributing to this situation. Despite these difficulties we can observe some positive developments which can improve prisoner resettlement in the future, such as efforts for systematic funding of resocialization programmes focused on employment and other problems of released persons, steps towards more intensive cooperation and the preparation of prisoners for release or projects of probationary homes (a kind of halfway house) or open prisons.
