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EMMI - Ministry of Human Resources Correctional Facility (Hungary)

An overview of the history of the institution:

​The predecessor of our institution was established in 1892. In 1984, after it was taken over by the state, the Educational Institute for Girls in Budapest was formed. In 1951, the Transitional State Foster Home for Boys was moved to the same building as the Educational Institute for Girls and the official name was changed to Transitional State Foster Home for Minors.

Starting from January 1, 2013, our founding and supervisional organization is the Ministry of Human Resources. Our secondary supervisional and sponsoring organization is the then established Social and Child Protective Directory.

According to the founding manifesto of the Ministry of Human Resources Correctional Facility in Budapest, its main goal is the correctional service of male minors that have been arraigned by a court and providing them with education. Minors can stay in our institution until a verdict is reached in their trial. This can take months or in some cases, even years.

When a verdict is reached, they can be acquitted, go on probation, get house arrest or go to a correctional facility or a juvenile detention center.

Our partner institutions within the Ministry of Human Resources in Aszód and Debrecen are tasked with the correctional education of male minors.

Female minors are detained in the Educational Institute for Girls and Special Needs Foster Home in Rákospalota pre-trial, where minors completing their court ordered correctional education are also present, as well as special needs girls, who are accommodated in a special education sector in the foster home.

 

The Ministry of Human Resources Correctional Facility in Budapest is suited to accommodate 100 minors who are admitted from age 12.

Our mission is to protect male minors awaiting trial and ease their integration, evaluate and treat their psychological conditions, providing them with education and manual labor skills, introduce them to the basic moral norms of society and prepare them for a healthy lifestyle.

In our institution we aim to provide a correctional and compensatory education to male minors awaiting trial that simultaneously strives to supersede the deficiencies resulting from their previous life history and correct the maladjustment and faulty attitudes that led to the commitment of crimes.

 

Currently (as of March 15, 2016) 62 minors are accommodated, but due to the nature of our institution, this number can change from one day to another.

 

Our institution is coordinated by four leaders and operates in several organizational units.

Foster home unit

Tasks: The foster home groups for minors operate within the educational unit. The educational unit is tasked with the daily care, protection, education of the minors, as well as the realization of goals in the areas of behavioral therapy, re-socialization and personality adjustment.

Employees: foster home leader, educators, day and night supervisors.

 

Educational and labor unit

Tasks: correcting the shortcomings of the minors’ previous education, resumption of the previously started education, development, acquiring a qualification that improves their chances in the labor market and experiencing regular work hours.

Employees: educational leader, educators, teachers, social workers, counselors and a special education teacher.

 

Office of student affairs

Tasks: the administrative validation of the legal framework, office routine, keeping records, management of statistics and reports, supervision of administrative tasks. Provides the legal background for the admission and discharge of minors and oversees the lawfulness of these processes, as well as notifies the people and authorities determined by the law. Establishes and maintains a relationship with the families and legal guardians of the minors.

Employees: head of student affairs, facilitator of student affairs and an administrator.

 

Mental hygiene and health service

Tasks: crisis intervention, individual and group therapy, diagnostics.

Employees: psychologists, special education teachers and therapists, nurses, general practitioners, occupational health professionals and a psychiatrist.

 

Apart from the four main units, the successful operation of the institution is provided by the financial and the secretarial office.

119 professionals are currently employed by the institution.

 

The importance and areas of application of the sociodramatic method in our institution:

 

It is generally true of the accommodated minors that they come from dysfunctional family backgrounds and the majority of them have been the victim of negligence or abuse. Regarding their education and skills they are at a serious disadvantage. Our employees have to attend to their deviant life choices, the conflicts that occur within groups, classes, aggression and the lack of social skills. In our institution, the gipsy minority is present in large numbers. Their earlier experiences are full of prejudice which requires new methods and sensitivity from our workers.

The acquirement and application of the sociodramatic method could help us develop cooperation and empathy in our students, defuse the conflicts between different social groups and backgrounds and bridge the gap between them. It would also help when processing tensions between minorities and improve the efficiency of our employees.

  • In the foster home unit, the method would help ease the everyday conflicts present in the groups and would also be useful when strengthening group cohesion. It could help us identify and eliminate any possible harm the minors face from their experiences in the criminal justice system and foster care.

  • In the educational and labor unit, it would be useful when we are helping the students understand and empathize with the problems different social groups (for example, poverty, disability, minority struggles) face. The sociodramatic method would make it possible for the youths to experience the position of other groups and thus adopt a new perspective on life.

  • Furthermore, the sociodramatic method would allow the perpetrators of crimes to learn about the consequences of their actions from the victims’ point of view. This sort of sensitization and role reversal paired with empathy could function as a form of crime prevention and probably provoke thoughts of making reparations to society.

  • The group sessions would be held by a psychologist in cooperation with one of our employees (a teacher or a social worker in the educational unit, the supervisors of the groups in the foster home unit).

  • The continuous training of professionals in Hungary would promote the wider use of the method within the institution, that would later allow our employees to better handle cooperation and conflicts within the system by establishing a role development group for professionals.

  • Creating open groups would be more advantageous due to the character of our institution. The number of the accommodated minors is in constant flux, thus it is hard to maintain permanency and it is very difficult to predict how long a minor will stay in our institution.

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