Prison Population in Saxony: Two Men Sentenced Under GDR Law
In the German state of Saxony, two men remain incarcerated despite being convicted under the GDR's criminal justice system. Both were sentenced for heinous crimes, including murder and sexual assault. As revealed by the Ministry of Justice, one convicted man was unable to be identified until 30 years later.
The Zwickau Regional Court, located in the Gera region of Vogtland, sentenced an early retiree to life imprisonment in 2017 for the brutal rape and murder of an 18-year-old girl in 1987. The court applied a combination of GDR and German federal law in the verdict. The Federal Court of Justice deemed this legal approach permissible in 2018, leaving the now 68-year-old man's sentence unchallenged.
It is worth noting that the proportion of older prisoners in Saxony's correctional facilities has seen a marked increase in recent years. The Ministry of Justice reported that as of December 8, 2020, 124 men aged 60 or above were in custody. Three years prior, this number stood at 95.
Interestingly, only one Saxon prison, located in Waldheim (Mittelsachsen district), operates a dedicated senior citizens' ward, providing housing for 54 older inmates. According to the Ministry of Justice, this ward is consistently used to accommodate elderly prisoners with preexisting age-related impairments, who can opt-in to stay in the senior residents' quarters.
To promote social interaction and mitigate the negative effects of social isolation on senior inmates, the senior citizens' ward allows prisoners to spend more time outside their cells, engage in communal activities like cooking and playing games, and take part in sports. This initiative is intended to counteract the accelerated aging process commonly associated with isolation, noted a Ministry of Justice spokesperson.
Moreover, individual consultations are offered to senior citizens' ward residents as they approach old age and spend the remainder of their days in prison. These discussions are essential to address the possibility of inmates' deaths while in custody and provide additional emotional support during this challenging period.
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Historical records reveal that delinquency laws varied greatly between the GDR and the Federal Republic of Germany. This disparity carries implications for the incarceration of prisoners who were tried and sentenced under GDR law.
Understanding the specific circumstances that led to this variation between law enforcement systems would be crucial to better comprehend the complexities surrounding entirely different legal systems and penal codes in one nation. However, analyzing primary sources such as court records, legal research papers, and official reports, might shed further light on this topic.
