Suben Prison
The Suben Prison is a penal institution in the center of the Austrian municipality of Suben in the state of Upper Austria . In principle, criminals can be imprisoned in the prison for a total term of more than 18 months up to life , but in practice the institution is designed for the execution of medium-term imprisonment. Most of the prison is located in the buildings of the former Suben Monastery .
As of December 31, 2011, there were 267 prisoners out of a total of 278 planned detention places. This corresponds to a total utilization of the prison of 96%.
history
Suben as a canon monastery
The Suben Abbey, in which the prison is located today, was probably built in the 11th century on a pre-Germanic settlement. That building, initially built as a castle, was quickly converted into a collegiate monastery, whereupon a church reformer named Altmann re-founded the monastery. After the re-establishment, the monastery was handed over to the cathedral chapter in Salzburg to train Augustinian canons . The canons built today's convent wing from 1697 to 1702. Following this, the originally Romanesque church was demolished in 1766 and replaced by a new building, which opened in 1772 and was converted into a secular parish in 1784 under the reform emperor Josef II . In 1809, Emperor Napoleon donated the pen to Prince Carl Philipp von Wrede of Bavaria , who finally sold it in 1855 for 18,000 guilders to the prison fund.
Suben as a prison
On November 26, 1856, the era of the pen as a penal institution finally began when the Good Shepherd Sisters took the Suben penal institution under their direction. As early as 1865, barely ten years after its opening, the institution was closed. After extensive renovation work under the new director Carl Santner (1866-1870), the first male prisoners moved into Suben on February 8, 1867. The prison population reached the 500 inmate mark in September of that year. At that time, the prison was still guarded by the military guard . In 1932 the prison in Suben was converted into a workhouse for recidivists by a ministerial decree .
The Suben workhouse during the Nazi era
The role of the Suben workhouse under the Nazi regime remains unclear to this day. Authorities of local historiography such as the Schärdingen grammar school director Heinrich Ferihumer and the Suben prison director Erich Zanzinger spread the euphemistic narrative that only “criminal law breakers” were imprisoned in Suben, so the Suben workhouse would not have had any part in the Nazi injustice regime. They only indicated in subordinate clauses that there were also political prisoners and “foreigners who were forced to do so”.
In the courtyards of the Suben workhouse there were newly built barracks for 150 imprisoned workers from 1944 at the latest. Components for Messerschmitt AG were produced under the cover name “Firma Ing. Brauch” , in particular lead wires, cables, special equipment and fittings for the Messerschmitt Me 262 jet aircraft .
As recently as 2018, the state side of Suben Prison said: “In 1945, after the US troops marched into Suben, they mistook the prisoners for political prisoners and released them. The prisoners rebelled in the village, mistreated the guards, and there was even one death among the officers. Only when the victorious powers recognized their mistake did they put an end to the mischief. ”This representation, which assumes that the US troops have made a complete misjudgment, has been criticized by Roderick Miller, among others.
Modern penal institution
In 1955, a general renovation of the cells and workshops was planned, which was not implemented until 1972. With the Prison Adjustment Act of 1974, the form of imprisonment of the work house in Austria was abandoned and the Suben prison was declared a prison. From 1979 to 1982 the rest of the buildings were renovated and in 1980 the former hospital wing was replaced by a modern new building with individual accommodation. During the same period, parts of the administration wing were renovated. In 2003 the asylum bakery was added on and rebuilt, two years later an open-air house was built in the former parsonage, which was moved into in the same year. A long-term visitor room was also created in the Suben prison. In order to continue to meet the requirements of a modern prison system in the future, the entire convent wing is currently being modernized. In the future, a so-called group accommodation facility will be set up there.
Awards
At the award ceremony of the SozialMarie 2008 Prize on May 1st of the same year, the Suben Prison was awarded second place for its SBS - Small Business Starter project . The project includes the training and qualification of black African prisoners who are to be deported after serving their prison sentence. These prisoners were given the opportunity to learn a trade as well as German and IT skills while they were in prison. With the help of these qualifications, they should be able to set up their own small business there after returning to their home country so that they can live free from punishment in the future.
literature
Erich Zanzinger: The history of the penal institution Suben . In: Upper Austrian homeland sheets . 38th year 1984, issue 2, pp. 146–171, online (PDF) in the forum OoeGeschichte.at.
Web links
- Website of the Suben Prison in the Justice Department.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Inquiry response (PDF; 116 kB) from the Federal Minister of Justice on the subject of prisoner numbers, conditional dismissals, dismissals in accordance with Section 133a of the Code of Criminal Procedure, charitable service and electronically monitored house arrest in 2011 .
- ↑ In the so-called Ferihumer report commissioned by the city government Schärding: years ago, the 20th The upheaval in Schärding in 1945 . 10 machine pages, unprinted, 1965, page 7 f.
- ↑ Erich Zanzinger: The history of the penal institution Suben , p. 158.
- ↑ See the criticism in the essay by Roderick Miller at https://www.frankfallaarchive.org/prisons/suben-workhouse-prison/ ; accessed on July 31, 2018.
- ↑ Information from the Federal Ministry of Justice about the award of the SozialMarie 2008 Prize to the JA Suben.
Coordinates: 48 ° 24 ′ 44 " N , 13 ° 25 ′ 47" E