The Restorative Justice in Prison Settings: a Utopia or a Challenge?

The concept of restorative justice in the Czech criminal justice system is typically connected with the use of restorative programmes, namely of mediation, in relation to the institution of diversion from criminal justice proceedings. One of the main reasons why the corresponding institution of diversion was implemented into the Czech criminal justice regulation was the intention to emphasise the role of a victim and the protection of his/her specific needs. However, it is claimed that the restorative justice concept offers much more in terms of dealing with the needs arising from the offender’s conduct. The prison system is suggested as another area where restorative values might be of great importance. Even if the issue of applying the restorative justice principles in the prison context is controversial for some of its proponents, predominantly the conformity exists that the restorative justice shall try to climb over the prison walls. The aim of this paper is to present the restorative justice ideas, principals and programmes which are suitable for implementation in prison setting. Moreover, principles which work world-wide in this field shall be presented. Experiences to reform the prison system in whole are accompanied by more humble approaches that try to bring individual restorative programmes of various nature into the prison context. In conclusion, the possibilities given by the Czech criminal legislation will be presented together with the programmes already existing in practice.