In our poster presentation we examine what kind of specific features appear concerning the education and training of detainees, what kind of privileges the system provides for this group of prisoners in two countries, Hungary and Poland.

We delineate what was the turning point in the prison system when the Polish and Hungarian Executive Penal Code (1969 Poland, 1979 Hungary) were established. In these acts social rehabilitation issues were emphasized along with the purposes of prison sentences. In 1989 another turning point took place with the change of regime in both countries, since then tendencies to treat convicts in a humanitarian way and to respect human rights have been observed. The search for new, more efficient methods and forms of social rehabilitation has become very important.

Our research questions are:

1. What is the legal, financial, statistical background of prison education in both countries?
2. What kind of characteristic features does the Polish and Hungarian prison education have?
3. What kind of privileges are provided for the detainees during their education and training inside the law enforcement institutions by the member states, especially by Poland and Hungary?
4. What are the characteristic features of prison teachers in both countries?

Theoretical framework according to the research questions

1. We study what are the charachteristics of financial and legal background of prison education in both countries. The functioning of the penitentiary system is governed by the law in both countries. The most important of them are the Acts of criminal code: in Hungary the Act of the Executive Criminal Code 2013. CCXL. and in Poland (Act of 6 June 1997 The Penal Code). The law dictates and guarantees the rights of prisoners in relation to the options of learning in both countries. We will research how it works in practice.
2. Prison education is very beneficial since in the case of detainees who take part in education there are fewer discipline problems in prison, the rate of those who become subsequent offenders after release and commit another crime is much lower. As the knowledge, abilities and skills acquired and the documents certifying them can improve the released person’s labour market chances, moreover they can be important tools of repeat offence prevention, they can contribute to the prevention of the development of a criminal career. We examine how the prison system works in both countries concerning education, whether in the two countries schools operating within penitentiary institutions are state schools or are contracted with schools subsidized by churches and foundations. 
3. We study the pecularities of detainees in both countries. The prisoners’ qualifications, basic skills are lower than the average of the society, which indicates that there was some disorder in the normal socializing processes in the case of the majority of the detainees. Intellectual deficit and partial ability deficit are more frequent among them, thus reading, logical, motor deficiencies, disorders are overrepresented. Despite all these difficulties, learning in prison has a lot of advantages.
4. Prison teachers are subject to the same regulations, and they have to meet the same requirements as teachers employed at schools outside prisons. The special situation of inmates makes the prison teachers’ work a lot more difficult. During their criminal andragogical activity they have to pay special attention to the handling of the detainees’ schooling deficit and the separation of their special position.

While researching the professional literature related to this subject matter in Hungary and Poland we started processing the European documents, result of forums, European Commission, Council of Europe and UN resolutions. We went through several primary sources and original documents, and paid special emphasis to European Prison Rules. After researching the international and European documents, we went on to compare the results of domestic and international statistics in both countries. Besides this we paid a great deal of attention to studying the sources of Hungarian and Polish prison education, thus not only did we read the most important books, studies, and articles in periodicals, but also participated in several conferences held on criminal andragogy, and of course have made use of the experience gained there. The material to be presented at the poster can be used by the penitentiary systems of other European countries, as the difficulties of prison education are similar in most European states. According to our opinion, the most important problem is caused by the fact that in the present system even the motivated detainees can learn at the expense of difficulties in both countries. Teachers try to teach them with the same methods, which often runs into difficulties because of their functional illiteracy, learning, behaviour problems, immature and quite often injured personality structure. Besides this, learning becomes rather restricted in the cell in the forced presence of the cellmates. There are no schoolrooms in every institution and they are not available for all convicts, this would be justified to change. Detainees’ access to education, tools connected to the study material and the library is difficult, often even the textbooks are not available. In order to explore these circumstances in more detail we plan to carry out empirical research in which we visit several correctional facilities in Hungary and Poland and ask the prisoners, educators, and teachers about their experience, views, and opinions about education.

We define accurately in our poster how the prison education systems in Hungary and Poland work, which are the main similarities and distinctions concerning these systems. There are crucial differencies in the following issues: legal framework, types of detention centres financial and statistical background, organisation of education, situation of prison teachers, rate of overcrowding. The law dictates and guarantees the rights of inmates in relation to the options of learning in both countries and in this field there are some differences. Similarity is, that both in Poland and Hungary, the system of punishment, rehabilitation and education of convicts evolved, underwent changes adapted to the conditions of reality. The school system in prisons operates in accordance with the Act on the Education System in both countries. They follow the same curricula and education programmes as schools in the free world. Prisoners education significantly contributes to the effectiveness of rehabilitation efforts. The detainees are mainly trained in the practical preparation for work they should undertake after leaving prison. They acquire or improve their skills in areas and occupations that are in demand on the labour market.

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