Constructive interaction between employees of penitentiary institutions and inmates

The problem of contructive interaction between penitentiary workers and inmates is a topical issue in Lithuania today. The essence of the constructive interaction is empathy, and the aim of the interaction is to make the members of the interaction more cooperative with each other by solving personal and social problems of inmates. The opposite effect to that interaction - one-way relationships, stimuli reaction (as behaviourism suggests), brings about unnatural and abnormal behaviour, both of the trainers and their trainees. The aim of the article is to set the peculiarities of the interaction between the employees of the penitentiary institutions and inmates, and anticipate the penitentiary activities and educational interaction. The research has proved the hypothesis that the satisfaction of personality’s needs of inmates by work and their capabilities to solve their personal and social problems improve the human relations between the staff and the inmates, encourage them to change and behave better, and not to commit crimes again, and thus public security is strengthened. The hypothesis that the empathy prevails the relations of the staff of correctional institutions and the inmates was not proved. There was no correlation established between the concerns of the staff and the inmates in the research of 1980-1990 (up to the Restoration of Statehood). Impersonal interaction with empathy lacking predominates. Unfortunately, concerns of the inmates did not become the concerns of the staff of the correctional institutions. This triggers aggressiveness of both the staff and the inmates. Educational-psychological qualification of the staff should be updated (qualified social workers are necessary in correctional institutions for the creation of effective correctional programs and for the provision of educational-psychological help). [...]Straipsnyje tyrinėjama Lietuvos pataisos įstaigų (PĮ) darbuotojų ir nuteistųjų konstruktyvioji sąveika per pastaruosius 20 metų. Konstruktyvioji sąveika yra viena iš svarbiausių problemų, kylančių tobulinant penitencinę sistemą. Konstruktyviosios sąveikos esmė – abipusė empatija ir bendradarbiavimas sprendžiant asmenines ir socialines nuteistųjų problemas. Literatūroje paplitusi sąveikai priešinga sąvoka poveikis (biheviorizme – stimulas, reakcija) ugdo paklusnumą, vergiškumą, nesavarankiškumą, baimę ir nerimą. Straipsnio tikslas – ištirti PĮ darbuotojų ir nuteistųjų sąveiką ir numatyti jos tobulinimo perspektyvas. Tyrimai patvirtino hipotezę, kad nuteistieji, galintys savo poreikius patenkinti doru darbu, padedami darbuotojų išmoksta patys spręsti savo asmenines ir socialines problemas, palaiko humaniškus santykius su darbuotojais ir kitais nuteistaisiais, dorai elgiasi, tampa empatiški ir nepavojingi visuomenei