Jirice, Central Bohemia, Nov 30 (CTK) – Inmates in the prison in Jirice will help breed sheep and fallow deer within the first project of this kind in Europe that was launched these days, Prison Service director Petr Dohnal has told reporters.
The first fallow deer were released into a 12-hectare closure on Tuesday. The local prisoners have built the fence.
So far five prisoners have looked after the animals and the greenery, but the prison management want dozens of them to work there with time.
The project will enable to use the land efficiently and teach the inmates work routines and new skills, Dohnal said.
The herd of nine fallow deer, including two males, was donated to the prison by private breeders. Up to 100 pieces of fallow deer can be bred in the closure.
The Jirice prison plans to have some 40 to 50 adult fallow deer that will further multiply.
Next year, the prison would like to get some stags as well. It is also considering selling venison in the future.
The Jirice prisoners have already taken care of seven sheep and three Pygmy goats. Now they will also prepare fodder for the fallow deer and check and maintain their enclosure.
This activity should strengthen the convicts’ feeling of responsibility.
Jirice prison director Petr Suk told CTK that the inmates expressed a high interest in the work because of contacts with animals.
Suk said he would like to present the sheep and fallow deer breeding to children from kindergartens and primary schools later.
Unlike other Czech prisons, Jirice has a large 50-hectare land at its disposal that was used by the Soviet troops in the past.
Besides, several prisoners from Jirice have bred bees in the hives, which they made themselves, since June. They also work in the prison’s garden and renewed orchard.
Justice Minister Robert Pelikan (ANO) says the Jirice project is another step to make the Czech prison system more human and enable prisoners to integrate into society as decent citizens after their release.
Farm animals were bred in Czech prisons in the past after WWI due to the lack of food, as well as after WWII when the Justice Ministry established judiciary farms. They were abolished when the communists seized power in 1948 and from 1953 prisoners worked in state farms. However, the state preferred them working in mines and factories.
An “open prison” is to be established in Jirice at the end of 2017 to prepare prisoners for their return to everyday life. They will be accommodated in several houses without bars and prison guards to simulate conditions at large, while the whole complex will be fenced and monitored by security cameras. The project will cost 23 million crowns.
