She first got into crime when she was sixteen. Fortunately, not in the role of a convict, but a trainee. The jailer is said to be in the family – her grandfather and father worked there, she lives with the warden. She met him when she became a prison teacher. Kateřina Míková wrote down her memories of this period in the just-published book entitled Za katrem. “If you go to prison saying you’re going to fix the world, you’re going to burn out,” he says.
How do people imagine prison? Perhaps as a gray and gloomy place where time drags lazily, or as a harsh microworld with its own laws, in which there are many dangers. There may be some truth in both, but Kateřina Míková offers another perspective: ordinary people with ordinary problems serve their sentences and work in prison, and in addition to often sad fates, there is also room for fun.
When she first thought of writing about her experience in the correctional facility, she first went through the current offer of literature to confirm her suspicions – mostly only professional books, autobiographies or works that portrayed the criminal were published on the subject. Míková combines a factual approach with satire in hers on less than two hundred pages. It describes how the prison works, who has what role, and what a normal day looks like for people serving a sentence with references to relevant sections and decrees. He also adds personal experience, often delivered lightly and peppered with various behind-the-scenes stories that “got off the hook,” as the book’s subtitle reads. She also writes about how, as a woman in a predominantly male environment, she had to earn respect and withstand many sexual insinuations, even from the convicts.
She found this work interesting from a young age. Already at the age of sixteen, she secured an apprenticeship with her father. And she got a lesson from him right away. “There was one such nice convict who opened the door for me and let me in. At that moment my dad grabbed my ponytail and said: do you want him to strangle someone?” Since then, Míková has remembered not to let herself in the door. It still haunts her today, when she makes a living as a teacher in order to better combine work and parenthood. “Working in a prison marks a person whether he wants it or not,” he sums up.
Míková prepared for the role of prison educator for a long time, which is why she graduated in special education. However, she decided to do other professions before starting “for the cat”. She is convinced that one has to mature for it. ”If I had gone there in my twenties, it wouldn’t have been the same. All my previous experiences helped me to handle work in prison,” she believes.
Kateřina Míková grew up in a ”prison” family. | Photo: Jaroslav Fikota
And what does a prison educator actually do? This is a civilian employee who should ensure the so-called resocialization of convicts, i.e. their smooth reintegration into society after release.
But Míková admits that it is often very difficult, especially if the prisoners were not properly socialized in their previous life. The educator is also responsible for a lot of operational matters. ”They provide the convicts with all their needs, from having clean clothes to sending mail. They also write evaluations for them, keep documentation of the convicts and organize educational activities for them. Each educator has specific ones according to what he can do and what he enjoys.” he explains.
The author of the book draws attention to the high rate of recidivism – around 70 percent of prisoners currently return to prison. That is also why, according to her, it is important to clarify why a person does a given job. “If you go to prison with the intention of fixing the world, you will inevitably burn out. You need to find meaning elsewhere. For example, you are protecting society from criminals,” he gives an example. “But even one convict who does not return behind bars is worth it,” he adds.
Prisons suffer from problems
High recidivism is one of the problems of the local prison system. The non-governmental organization Czech Helsinki Committee, which monitors the situation in the field, points out that the system more or less only fulfills an insulating function. Overcrowded prisons and a lack of educators are also a problem.
“A number of prisoners would receive a different sentence in other countries,” Simon Michailidis, director general of the Prison Service of the Czech Republic, said last year for the Kontext podcast. According to him, domestic statistics are worsened by the fact that everyone who returns to prison during their lifetime is counted as a recidivist, whereas in other European countries only returns within a certain period of time after release are counted.
The upcoming prison reform should partially correct the situation. The government received the proposal from the Ministry of Justice at the end of September. The goal is to expand alternative punishments, such as financial ones, and judges do not send recidivists behind bars so often even for petty theft.
However, due to criticism from other departments, the ministry removed from the proposal the possibility that the court could only impose a monetary penalty even for the most serious crimes.
According to Kateřina Míková, reform is necessary, but from the position of a former educator, she also sees a problem in the course of resocialization, which she provided for prisoners. “There are two fundamental problems. The first is that all the educational work that educators offer to prisoners is voluntary, so convicts do not have to do it. The second problem is that we absolutely lack systemic care after release. More or less, only non-profit organizations provide it. a person can turn to the employment office, the social curator, a debt counseling center, for example, but it’s not that easy, especially if he has nowhere to return to after being released,” he says.
Like being locked up myself
Míková mentions that someone who works in a prison can feel as if he himself is locked up. Among other things, employees, as well as convicts, are not allowed to have mobile phones on duty. There are security reasons behind this. The fewer phones inside, the less likely one will reach the convict. ”You are completely cut off from the world there. Clients sometimes told me: teacher, you have it worse than us,” she mentions.
Still, she sometimes misses her life behind bars. “Especially after everything is clearly stated there. When you work, you are based on the law, decrees, and internal regulations. If you don’t know how to do something, just look at the regulations and you will learn how to do it correctly. is missing, it’s not so clear-cut there,” he compares it to his current job. “But sometimes I say that the difference between a school and a prison is only in the number of bars in the windows,” he adds with a laugh.
He is also building a community of life enthusiasts on the Instagram social network, where he has an account of the same name with almost 11,000 followers, some of whom even came to the book launch. But as Míková says, the prison has already given her the most important things – her husband and children. ”Thus, she fulfilled her role in my life,” she concludes.
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Míková reflects on her experiences in prison during her time as an educator, expressing that the emotional toll can feel like being imprisoned herself. “Every day you see people struggling with their pasts and the decisions that led them here. It weighs heavily on you,” she shares. “You become invested not just in their present but in their potential future. It can be disheartening when the efforts you put in don’t seem to yield results.”
She recalls moments of hope where she witnessed a convict making strides towards reintegration, but these were often followed by setbacks, sometimes even re-incarceration. “It’s a cycle that feels inescapable,” she says. “You want to believe that you’re making a difference, but the system sometimes feels like it’s fighting against us.”
The emotional strain compounded by the responsibility of maintaining boundaries with the convicts was always present. Míková had to navigate the complexities of building rapport while ensuring she didn’t lose her professional distance. This balancing act became a key part of her role. “You can’t be their friend, but you can’t be their enemy either. Striking that balance is crucial for effective teaching and resocialization,” she explains.
The Path Forward
Despite the challenges, Míková remains hopeful about the future of prison education and rehabilitation. She advocates for more comprehensive programs that not only focus on education but also on mental health and social reintegration. “We need to look at the whole person and their circumstances. If we want to reduce recidivism, we must support individuals beyond the prison walls and into their communities,” she asserts.
Míková emphasizes the importance of community support in facilitating successful transitions for released individuals. “We need involvement from families, social services, and voluntary organizations. Only then can we hope to address the root causes that lead to re-offending,” she concludes.
As society grapples with the complexities of the criminal justice system, Míková’s insights shine a light on the importance of empathy and understanding in tackling the issues of reoffending and prisoner reintegration. Her commitment to her work serves as a reminder that every effort counts in the endeavor to transform lives and build a safer society.