The Justizvollzugsanstalt Witzwil (Prison Witzwil) is a men's prison in the

canton of Bern The canton of Bern or Berne (german: Kanton Bern; rm, Chantun Berna; french: canton de Berne; it, Canton Berna) is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. Its capital city, Bern, is also the ''de facto'' capital of Switzerland. ...

, Switzerland. It consists of a closed part and a number of

minimum security A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correcti ...

habitation units. The prisoners work on the institution's huge farm estate on the territories of the municipalities Erlach,

Gampelen Gampelen (french: Champion) is a municipality in the Seeland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. Gampelen should not be confused with the municipality Gampel in the canton of Valais. History Gampelen is first menti ...

and

Ins INS or Ins or ''variant'', may refer to: Places * Ins, Switzerland, a municipality * Creech Air Force Base (IATA airport code INS) * Indonesia, ITF and UNDP code INS Biology *'' Ins'', a New World genus of bee flies * INS, the gene for the insul ...

Canton of Berne The canton of Bern or Berne (german: Kanton Bern; rm, Chantun Berna; french: canton de Berne; it, Canton Berna) is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. Its capital city, Bern, is also the ''de facto'' capital of Switzerland. ...

and

Haut-Vully Haut-Vully ( frp, Hiôt-Vulyi) is a former municipality in the district of See/Lac in the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland. Until 1977, it was officially known as ''Vully-Le-Haut''. Its German name of Oberwistenlach is now little used. On 1 Ja ...

Canton of Fribourg The canton of Fribourg, also canton of Freiburg (french: Canton de Fribourg ; german: Kanton Freiburg ; frp, Canton de Fribôrg rm, Chantun Friburg it, Canton Friburgo) is located in western Switzerland. The canton is bilingual, with French ...

. Former prisoners who are yet to find employment are also allowed to work on these farms. The main seat and official address are located in the community of Gampelen.

History

The Witzwil prison was a brainchild of Otto Kellerhals, who also served as the institution's first director in 1895. His son Hans Kellerhals took over after his retirement. The farms of the prison are on what was formerly a part of the huge marshlands called Grand Marais. It was realized that the land parcels could be reclaimed for agriculture through the

Jura water correction The correction of the waters of the Swiss Jura consisted of a wide series of hydrological undertakings carried out in Switzerland in the region of the three lakes: Lake Morat connected to Lake Neuchatel by the Broye Canal, the latter connected t ...

. In 1860 Public Notary Witz from Erlach bought the whole land, which henceforth took up his name. In 1870 he sold it to the newly founded ''Landwirtschaftlichen Gesellschaft Witzwil'' (also called ''Einfache Gesellschaft Grosses Moos''), to which the politician

Jakob Stämpfli Jakob Stämpfli (23 February 1820 – 15 May 1879) was a Swiss politician and member of the Swiss Federal Council (1854–1863). He was elected to the Federal Council of Switzerland on 6 December 1854, and handed over office on 31 December 1863. ...

was involved with all his fortune. The company, however, fell 1879 in

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

, and 1891 the domain was acquired by the canton of Berne from the bankruptcy estate. In 1894 the first

Barracks Barracks are usually a group of long buildings built to house military personnel or laborers. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word "barraca" ("soldier's tent"), but today barracks are u ...

were built for 100 inmates.

Friedrich Glauser Friedrich Glauser (4 February 1896 in Vienna – 8 December 1938 in Nervi) was a German-language Swiss writer. He was a morphine and opium addict for most of his life. In his first novel ''Gourrama'', written between 1928 and 1930, he treated his o ...

spent one year as an "administrative inmate" in Witzwil 1925 to 1926 and tried to commit

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

. Shortly after the end of the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Witzwil attained its maximum capacity with 600 prisoners. Between 1980 and 1985 a new prison building was built. 1995 a closed “Wohngruppe” was opened. 1998 followed the opening of the department “Ausschaffung” for 36 people bound to be forcefully

repatriated Repatriation is the process of returning a thing or a person to its country of origin or citizenship. The term may refer to non-human entities, such as converting a foreign currency into the currency of one's own country, as well as to the pro ...

back to their country of origin.

Current

Today, Witzwil offers space for 200 inmates and employs 118 employees. Out of this number of prisoners, the institution posts an average of 50 escapes per year. This low figure - considering the lack of security and containment mechanisms - is partly attributed to the short sentences of the inmates as well as the internal security in Switzerland, which serves as a deterrent. Beginning in the 1990s, the government also constructed an annex at Witzwil, which currently serves as expulsion prison, or a detainment facility for individuals waiting to be deported, pending a court ruling or police decree. With a total agricultural land area of 612 hectares, the prison has the largest farm in Switzerland, with an annual revenue of 17 million

Swiss francs The Swiss franc is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It is also legal tender in the Italian exclave of Campione d'Italia which is surrounded by Swiss territory. The Swiss National Bank (SNB) issues banknotes and the f ...

. The operation includes 20

tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most common ...

s, 500

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult mal ...

, 120

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...

s, 600

pigs The pig (''Sus domesticus''), often called swine, hog, or domestic pig when distinguishing from other members of the genus '' Sus'', is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is variously considered a subspecies of ''Sus s ...

and 100

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...

References

External links

Justizvollzugsanstalt Witzwil
Witzwil {{prison-stub

History

Current

See also

References

External links