Experiences with Welfare, Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Prisoners: Lessons Learned?

This paper contributes to the debate on desirable correctional services systems by presenting four national case studies on the welfare, rehabilitation and reintegration of prisoners, and how each country regulates and institutionalizes these aspects of the penal system. The countries analysed are: Canada, known for its community involvement in release approach; Norway, known for its strong welfare system; Japan, known for its decreasing prison rate; and Malaysia, known for its efforts in the deradicalization and reintegration of prisoners with extremist ideologies.
To create a comparable basis for analysis between the different countries, a comparative scale was developed based on the revised United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules). The scale allows the welfare, rehabilitation and reintegration dimensions of correctional services in each country to be classified in three categories (insufficient, sufficient and excelled). In addition to these three dimensions, the prison regime of each country was analysed to allow the national prison context to be considered in the country comparison.