PRAGUE, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- An open prison started its operation on Monday in Jirice, Czech Republic, with the move-in of the first batch of inmates expected in the coming few days, said the prison's director Petr Suk.
According Suk, the prison will be free of armed guards and follow a daily routine similar to normal life.
And inmates of the prison will be responsible for meeting their daily tasks without compulsory time schedule.
Suk explained that the project aims to help inmates get used to everyday life after their release from prison and thus to help reduce the rate of relapse into crime, which reaches up to 70 percent in the Czech Republic.
Director of the Prison Service, Peter Dohnal, said it would be a great success if the state managed to reduce the rate to 35-40 percent.
The capacity of the open prison is currently 32 inmates, which will be attended by 14 employees. The prison is surrounded by a high wall and guarded by cameras.
Apart from a full-time job, the prisoners will take care of animals. In the prison, there is a breeding area with rabbits and kangaroos in it.
An assessment will be made after one-year operation of the pilot project. If proved to effective, the capacity of the prison will be enlarged to up to 100 inmates and further such facilities may be built elsewhere in the country.
Hana Prokopova, head of the open prison department, said it will be ideally for a prisoner to be moved to an opened prison 1.5 years before the end of his imprisonment term. She said the capacity of the prison will be fully filled by the end of the year. The first inmate will leave the prison next year in spring.
