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It’s a tradition in many federal states: shortly before Christmas, the judiciary releases prisoners whose sentences would have ended shortly anyway, and who behaved perfectly in prison.
In the days leading up to Christmas, the judiciary in many federal states is once again moderate this year, releasing hundreds of prisoners early. At least 963 detainees were able to leave prisons or were allowed to leave prisons earlier, according to a survey by the dpa news agency. In many places, however, the number of beneficiaries was reduced compared to the previous year.
The so-called Christmas amnesty aims to give prisoners who are already released towards the turn of the year a pleasant party and allow them to use the offers of help and advice centers before the Christmas holidays start. “With collective grace, we facilitate reintegration into our society,” said Berlin Justice Senator Dirk Behrendt of the Greens. As a result, the doors of the capital’s jails were opened prematurely for 124 prisoners: the year before there were 170. At that time, however, there were still 3,800 people in Berlin’s jails; according to the Senate, there are currently about 3,300.
Christmas grace for the first time in Saxony
In North Rhine-Westphalia, the number of pardoned prisoners fell even more drastically, according to the NRW Ministry of Justice, to 247 prisoners (previous year: 522 prisoners). In Baden-Württemberg, the number dropped by a third to 200 this year. The fluctuation is less in Rhineland-Palatinate, where the judiciary showed mercy towards 110 people (2019: 123). 49 men and 6 women benefited from the tradition in Lower Saxony. Hesse pardons 79 prisoners a total of 1,720 days. So far, 33 prisoners have been released in Brandenburg during the Christmas amnesty (previous year: 50). In Saxony-Anhalt there were 26, in Schleswig-Holstein 19, in Bremen and Thuringia 6 people were able to get out of prison earlier. The amnesty is a first for the neighboring state of Saxony: for the first time, the prisoners will be released there at Christmas: 58.
The fact that fewer people are allowed to leave custody earlier than in 2019 could be due to the effects of the corona pandemic: many criminals received a stay of detention this year to accommodate quarantine measures in prisons , according to the Ministry of Justice of North Rhine-Westphalia. .
Bavaria stands firm
As in previous years, there is no Christmas amnesty in Bavaria. “The change of a legally binding sanction by grace should be reserved for absolutely exceptional cases and should not depend on the contingencies of the calendar,” said the Ministry of Justice. The Christmas grace is unfair to prisoners whose incarceration period ends at other times.
The decision on who will be pardoned is made at random, but not in the other federal states. There are only prisoners in question who did not attract negative attention during their detention and who did not have to serve a long prison term. Violent offenders or sex offenders also have no chance of receiving Christmas grace in many places.
Not everyone wants to go
Experience has shown that not everyone who receives an amnesty wants to get out of prison early. In North Rhine-Westphalia alone, 69 pardoned prisoners preferred to spend Christmas in prison rather than free.
