Ombudswoman Gaby Schwarz in an interview with Falter: Situation in the penal system shocks me!

"The consequences of staff shortages and overcrowding in all prisons are long lock-up times, too few employment opportunities, a lack of care and poor resocialisation. When people spend up to 23 hours in an overcrowded detention centre, anyone can work out that these are not ideal conditions." She identifies an "absolute system failure" and names some dramatic cases in the interview that are documented in the Ombudsman's parliamentary reports.

Gaby Schwarz describes the care of mentally ill prisoners as "extremely inadequate". The Austrian Ombudsman Board has been working on an investigation into this since last year. The results will be published at the end of March 2026. The surveys show that there are too few specialists in psychiatry working in prisons to ensure adequate care. This means that prison guards have to look after these inmates, who are not trained to do so and those affected are often locked away in solitary confinement.

"Yes, dealing with psychotic people is an extreme challenge, but such abuses are unacceptable," says Ombudswoman Gaby Schwarz, referring to photos of the detention room at Hirtenberg prison, which can be seen in the current issue of Falter. "The Ombudsman Board has repeatedly criticised deficiencies in specially secured detention rooms and called for de-escalation training. Nothing has happened. In May 2023, I even wrote a letter to the then Minister of Justice, Alma Zadic, explicitly pointing out the concrete bed in Hirtenberg where the prisoner in question sustained serious injuries. I hear that these concrete beds are now being chiselled away in several prisons and I ask myself: why didn't they listen to us earlier and equip the specially secured detention rooms with hard foam?"

"The fact that it took a tragic death to draw attention to the urgent need for action fills me with great anger. I hope that there is now a window of opportunity for improvements. In any case, I will continue to keep my finger in the wound," said Ombudswoman Gaby Schwarz in the Falter interview.