Object structure
Title:

Aid Organisations and Prison Ministry in Communist Poland and Their Role in the Resocialisation of Prisoners after 1980

Subtitle:

The History of Prison Regimes in the Polish Territory in the Nineteeth and Twentieth Centuries ; Acta Poloniae Historica T. 118 (2018)

Creator:

Kudlak, Grzegorz ; Zimny, Mateusz

Contributor:

Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences ; Polish National Historical Committee ; Biczyk, Sylwia : Trans.

Publisher:

Instytut Historii im. Tadeusza Manteuffla Polskiej Akademii Nauk

Place of publishing:

Warszawa

Date issued/created:

2018

Description:

p. 237-270 ; 23 cm

Type of object:

Journal/Article

Subject and Keywords:

prison ministry ; prison chaplain ; resocialization ; aid organizations ; post-penitentiary assistance ; volunteer workers in corrections - history - Poland ; religious work with prisonners - history - Poland ; Church work with prisonners - history - Poland ; chaplains, prison - Poland - 20th c. ; criminals - rehabilitation - history - Poland ; prisoners - services for Poland - 20th c.

Abstract:

This article traces the history of penitentiary and post-penitentiary practices by churches (primarily Catholic) and social aid organizations in Poland. The involvement of churches and social organizations in prisoner assistance began, partly underground, during the period of the Polish partitions, and took on formal roles and structures during the Second Republic of Poland (1918–39). However, beginning with the Second World War and until the year 1980 the earlier practice of ministry in prisons was significantly limited. The Nazi and Soviet hostile attitude towards religion was continued and in some ways exacerbated during the period of communist governments in Poland, when the function of prison chaplain as well as prison chapels themselves were liquidated, and all that officially remained of the conduct of religious services in prisons was the administration of last sacraments to prisoners about to be executed or terminally ill. During this period the church’s support for prisoners was mostly limited to that offered by clergymen who were themselves inmates. The role of prison ministry and social aid organisations in both penitentiary and post-penitentiary work was revived following the strikes, and consequent mass arrests, which took place in August 1980. The new scope and dimension of prison ministry began with the re-instatement of the function of prison chaplain and has evolved in recent decades to the point where today prison chaplains and church ministries, working alongside non-governmental aid organizations, have become an indispensable part of both the administration of prisons as well as post-penitentiary supervision and assistance.

References:

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Zbigniew Lasocik, Praktyki religijne więźniów (Warszawa, 1993).
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Relation:

Acta Poloniae Historica

Volume:

118

Start page:

237

End page:

270

Resource type:

Text

Detailed Resource Type:

Article : original article

Format:

application/pdf

Resource Identifier:

0001-6829 ; 2450-8462 ; 10.12775/APH.2018.118.09

Source:

IH PAN, sygn. A.295/118 Podr. ; IH PAN, sygn. A.296/118 ; click here to follow the link

Language:

eng

Rights:

Creative Commons Attribution BY-ND 4.0 license

Terms of use:

Copyright-protected material. [CC BY-ND 4.0] May be used within the scope specified in Creative Commons Attribution BY-ND 4.0 license, full text available at: ; -

Digitizing institution:

Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Original in:

Library of the Institute of History PAS

Projects co-financed by:

National Programme for the Development of the Humanities

Access:

Open

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