Motorcycle Travel Series by @velimir 'The Prison Restaurant' (Part #208)
The correctional facility at Lepoglava has its own public restaurant. The inmates work there on their own accord. I think this is really good and beneficial to them. The reasons of imprisoning someone for non-capital crimes are to remove the person from the environment in which he/her committed a crime so that it wouldn't repeat, and to give them a fair chance of rethinking motives for their wrongdoings. I don't believe someone's time should be 'punishment'. More like a chance to start over. Let's see that place!
I don't want to accept the paradigm that someone is 'bad inside'. We were all babies and then innocent children at some point before we grew up in what we are today. The reasons for committing a crime, as well as triggers for other behaviours, are rooted in a few first years of our lives. The environment we live in and our parent's influence is where one finds causes and reasons behind later actions and behaviours. But then again, if everyone would be good and helpful to others we wouldn't need prisons. A working wood stove right in front, as I enter. I like that!
Be it as may be, the penal system gave these people a possibility to work as free people, interact with guest and prepare meals. I'm not allowed to take their pictures but nobody minds me taking pictures of the place itself. I like the way it is decorated with several cupboards like this one.
This jolly bunch of prison guards frequents the place and eats here almost every day. They don't mind flashing a smile at my camera. One of them asks,
-'You know this is a prison's restaurant, right?'
-'Yes, that's why I am here, taking pictures,' I answer.
They smile really friendly, and I go back to my table.
Aaaand a snap of their meal. :) Looks nice, too!
The lady who served me is very warmhearted and nicer than quite a bit of staff at other places I've been to. The calamari is what she recommends and they are delicious. Eating at the prison restaurant was one of the good ideas of the day. One doesn't get an opportunity to do this every day. I recommend this place to everyone.
The night is slowly falling, maybe I took too much time. I better hurry up before the darkness takes over.
Enjoy your day! :-)
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Lovely ..
be yourself
Thanks for sharing and the photos
This food looks great. Looks like you had a great time there.
Your food pictures has made me hungry now ☺️
Nice one. Still on Prison topic. I am enjoying the ride :)
I love topics that expose where the government got things wrong and how things are treated unfairly and neglected. Just like some of your previous posts.
I must say that i am shocked that inmates work there. You dont get to see such in prisons around my part of the world.
I agree with you on the purpose of prison. The main purpose of imprisonment in a humane society is reformation of the criminal, the second is deterrence to other would-be criminals and only thirdly the (temporary) removal from society of a threat.
Infact here in my country, there is this argument that they can't reoffend while they're in prison, and that this therefore protects victims. This is palpable rubbish. Unless you're going to imprison people indefinitely for minor offences, they have to be released eventually. By failing to reduce the reoffending rate, you're only deferring the victims to a later date, and increasing their number.
This is from personal experience and i have a some knowledge on psychology
There are two types of criminals in the world. Those who have been caught and punished, and the rest.
In the group we label as "criminals" (those who have been caught, convicted, and punished) there are two groups:
The Mentally Abnormal and the Normal Everyday Citizen
The mentally abnormal person can be described as having an illness which leads him to commit crimes of violence against other people. These are the real problem criminals in our society and civilization as a whole.
They are a danger to our families and friends, our peace, and our well being.
The normal everyday citizens are just that. People who are essentially good, and pose no real threat to others, but can be led astray by their upbringing, their friends, associates, or dire circumstances.
These people make mistakes, and when they are caught up in their mistake, we treat them the same way we treat the mentally abnormal criminals. Since we treat them this way, they must be one and the same, right? Wrong.
The normal everyday person can be rehabilitated, and reintegrated into society, I am not sure that is the case with the mentally abnormal. Psychotic individuals are rarely able to change; it is a physical abnormality (though maybe hard to pinpoint where in the brain the fault lies) not a psychological one. My apologies @velimir that i am not talking about other parts of this exceptional post.:)
But i love this blog because i like to learn more.
I have a question for us here. I wish we could interact more.
If prison does not work what should you do with criminals? Since you support that they should be released after sometime :)
Exceptional topic here. I apologise for the long comment. Its just that i am passionate about injustice and its relations. :)
You have made a lot of sense her @georgechuks. @velimir. I enjoyed the post. Its a great one. And the topic is really crucial only if our government could look deeply into it.
To answer you question, there are other alternatives being employed to better effect in other countries. One option is to give first time offenders substantial custodial sentences for relatively minor offence, with almost all of it being suspended. The criminal serves a very short period, perhaps only a couple of weeks, in fairly harsh conditions. This can usually be served without disrupting employment, earning capability etc, which is a significant factor in reoffending. It also makes the offender aware of whats in store in the event of reoffending. In tandem, community based programmes involving victim awareness, causes of offending behaviour etc would help to identify, and hopefully reduce, the risk that the deterrent is ineffective in and of itself. In countries where this kind of approach is adopted, reoffending rates are significantly lower than in the UK, and fewer people are in prison. I believe Italy, for example, suspends all first time custodial sentences, except in the case of violent or sexual crimes.
I hope i answered your question. Thank you @velimir for providing the room for this interaction
Thanks for the helpful reply.
I think that we really have it backwards on this issue. We are missing a huge opportunity. We are warehousing people, punishing them and returning them to our society worse off than when we got them. I think our goal should be ultimately to help turn people's lives around -- but we are not treating our prisoners that way right now. There is a reason why America has incarceration rates that are seven times higher than our European allies and murder rates that are ten times higher. We are putting people in prison, many times, for non-violent crimes and turning them out more violent and dangerous than when they went in.
Interesting point @nancy7819 I wasn't aware of this. Maybe our civilization becomes human, after all :)
I like your poste thanks
@georgechuks You said it all, buddy! :) No apologies of any kind are needed. To the contrary, thank you! :)
What I would say is that the environment of a prison should model in every way how we want prisoners to behave upon their release. So what do we want them to do when they get out of prison? We'd like them to have respect and compassion for others and respect for the law. That means that while they are a prisoner, they have to receive respect and the prison has to be law-abiding. Today's prisons are neither. What our prisons teach now is that it is normal behavior to hate your enemies and to harm them. Prisoners will answer with violence for the violence that has been perpetrated against them in prison. I don't feel that, I know that. When you talk about reform, you talk about transforming prisoners' lives in a positive way. But prisons offer anything but an environment for that type of transformation.
The violence that is coming out of these prisons is a much greater threat than terrorism.
Awesome post @velimir. Thanks foe sharing.
Good point @nancy7819.
I just wish all prisoners are entitled to programs aimed at reform. The way a society treats people convicted of crimes is an indicator of the human values of that society.
That's an interesting concept - a jail like that one!
I always wondered about the role of prison in regard to criminal and the aim of imprisonment. On one hand there are dangerous people who should of course be separated from society, at least for the time being - but traditional prisons are such hard and cruel places that anyone entering one of them will most probably get back to society just to do heavier crimes - that's what he learned about from other inmates during the boring hours and days of sitting without productive activity at prison and that way of life, especially for those sentenced for many years, chips and roughens a man conscience so that we can't really expect much more of him.
I do want to believe in rehabilitative prison, but I would have to see research literature on order to check whether it is really beneficial and I guess that such method will not be applicable in all cases (like in this famous case here where the Norwegian authorities, even though their method is rehabilitive, had to use special methods to keep this fella in for life https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anders_Behring_Breivik)
But generally - I do support any feasible kind of incorporation of rehabilitive and educational imprisonment - the current method surely doesn't work and only makes things worse. I guess that there should be different types of jail for different types of crimes and persons, according to their history, an assessment of a psychologist/ psychiatrist/ social worker etc...
The second picture my favorite - the fire that burns merrily in warm and pleasant red in the confined borders of the stove gives me the feeling of the place's purpose - to imprisonment, but yet- to try to fix and advance the inmates to a better future.
Yes...well there are people, and there are people... as I said. I doubt these guys would let violent people work in the restaurant. :)
I'm sure they wouldn't :)
Hey @velimir I and some of my friends are big fans of your travel series.
In my view point these are not only series of travel but we get lot of lessons regarding life. Might be I'm wrong, but you always share the stuff where Govt or People should take a look. Obviously that place or point is neglected or something wrong is happening there.
I'm very very thankful to you for spreading such a beautiful positivity. People like you are rare in this time.
We have a request...: Can you start a world your so that we could see you. I promise I will keep you my guest for as many days as you can.
Thanks for giving us love and Stay Blessed!
Thank you very much, my friend. :) Really happy to read my posts are appreciated!
Another journey continued. Your writing and photography are as always first rate. It's a joy to read and behold.
As a side note, the restaurant is interesting indeed. We had a sitting Governor in Arizona that was convicted of Fraud and sentenced to prison. While inside he took some cooking instruction and continued after he had served his time. He is now the head chef at a very popular Chop House and says he has no further interest in politics. Rehabilitated to be sure.
our environment is really strongly influenced by the environment in which we live and the society in which we are brought up. Our parents tighten the foundation of the future relationship in society and with society.
It's good that you were given the opportunity to take photos. To be honest, I was on an excursion in Russian prisons - it looks awful there and the content there frightens many.
Therefore, these species seem like a Dut Garden. But I'm sure in every place there are drawbacks - which we just do not see.
Thanks and have a nice day
It is understandable they do not allow pictures of the inmates working there to be taken. The guards are friendly too. They look like cool-headed fellas and also appear at ease to dine in a place run by those they work in keeping captive.
Oh, they are allowed to be photographed if they like. It was their choice not to be. More shyness than anything else. :) I liked that actually :D
Oh, that was awesome. Do they have like a guard at the door?
As a person who has worked in homes for welfare case boys and criminals with developmental disabilities in the Greater Los Angeles area, I would agree 100% that these people need a 'second chance' and not severe, dehumanizing punishments.
There we go! :)