According to the uncorrected data of the Central Statistical Office, the unemployment rate in Latvia is 6.3% in September 2022. Although this has been gradually decreasing since the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis, there is still a large number of people who are unemployed. On the other hand, the correctional services still lack more than 400 employees, that will ensure the increase in the efficiency of the resocialization system and that will have a direct impact on the integration of people in difficulties into society and the labor market.
In order to promote the public's understanding of the objectives of the institutions, their daily work and its specifics, as well as benefits, the campaign "To make mistakes is human and to help as well", organized by the Ministry of Justice, the Prisons Administration and the State Probation Service, people who want to work in a job important to public safety and help those in difficulties were approached for one of the vacancies available in the correctional service in Riga and regions of Latvia.
"Helping both institutions in their work is not a story of unconditional help. Helping in this case is manifested by the fact that the employees of both institutions are the ones who can largely help a person who has made a mistake, who has committed a violation of the law, to understand what the reasons were for this and, of course, also to help shape their future in such a way that these mistakes would not be repeated and other people would not be harmed,” says M. Papsujevičs.
On December 31, 2021, there were 3,183 prisoners sentenced to deprivation of liberty in prisons. On December 31, 2021, according to the list of positions, there were 2,475.5 positions in the Prisons Administration, but the average number of officials, employees and civil servants that year was only 2,199. By the end of 2021, there was a shortage of 403 employees.
“A prisoner is not a sack of potatoes that we can put in a cell for a full term and forget about. A prisoner is a person who has committed an offense and received a punishment for it - deprivation of liberty. Our first task is to take care of public safety, i.e. to prevent lawbreakers from endangering themselves or others," emphasizes D. Kaļins.
The National Probation Service works with more than sixteen thousand people each year who have been sentenced to community service or have become probation clients in the areas of settlement and assessment reporting. In 2021, the average number of employees of the State Probation Service was 411 employees. The State Probation Service is constantly developing and the scope of its functions is increasing, so it is essential to attract new specialists in order to create a safer society. In order to make the selection process more efficient, employees are recruited in certain periods of time, so interested parties are invited to familiarize themselves with the available information and leave contact information so that the personnel specialist will contact them when the selection of employees begins.
"Over the course of five years, we have counseled approximately 3,000 prisoners in cooperation with the Latvian Prison Administration. Some of them are counseled before vocational training, when they can get a profession instead of prison. But a large part is consulted before leaving the place of imprisonment - accordingly, they are prepared for both job hunting and updated knowledge about CVs, motivation letters and things that are more technical," says the representative of the career and jobseeker support department of the labor market department of the State Employment Agency. Kristīne Ozoliņa.
"In the probation service, people work not only to build a safer society, but also to build a smarter and better society. We work with people that others don't want to work with. From which others have turned away. Who, in fact, have sometimes turned away from themselves, who don't believe in themselves either," I. Jurevičius shares his experience.
The event was attended by State Secretary of the Ministry of Justice Mihails Papsujevičs, Head of the Prisons Administration Dmitrijs Kaļins, Head of the State Probation Service Imants Jurevičius, Leading Probation Specialist - Head of Jelgava Division 2 Ivars Ozoliņš, Board Member of the Latvian Internal Affairs Workers' Union, Riga Central Prison Supervisor Edgars Bole, Nikita Bezborodovs, member of the board of the Latvian Psychiatrists' Association and member of the LĀB Certification Commission in the specialty of psychiatrist, Kristīne Ozoliņa, representative of the career and jobseeker support department of the Labor Market Department of the State Employment Agency, and Iveta Ādamsone, senior probation specialist of the State Probation Service and volunteer, while the discussion was moderated by TV morning news program manager, journalist and "World Nature Fund" ambassador Kristīne Garklāva.
Full recording of the event is available at https://fb.watch/gWRhTFIiKL/
More information about work at the State Prison Administration: https://ej.uz/ievp-vakances
More information about work in the State Probation Service: https://ej.uz/darbsvpd
