In the Hirtenberg Prison in the Lower Austrian district of Baden, the air is currently bad because of various escape attempts and physical attacks on security guards. One affected person is now strongly criticizing the management: “There have been seven injured officers since the beginning of the year, but there are hardly any reactions.”
The history: In the last incident in Wiener Neustadt on June 1, two officers were injured in a risky attempt to escape. The two colleagues deployed were able to catch the fugitive during a trip to the hospital, but are said to be still on sick leave.
“This enforcement is no longer acceptable for all of us”
After various quarrels with rabid inmates and allegedly a lack of backing from the prison management, loud criticism is now being raised in public – anonymously to be on the safe side: “Every act of an official is questioned by the prison management in such a way that one almost no longer dares to take suitable measures for self-protection . This enforcement is no longer acceptable for all of us, ”reports one employee indignantly.
The responsible Ministry of Justice naturally sees things differently, but they don’t have an explanation ready: “Every single attempt to escape is carefully analyzed in order to learn from this experience and to adapt the security measures,” it says succinctly. In any case, it should not be due to the lack of staff, Hirtenberg currently has 145 executive duty posts, all of which are occupied up to 1.7 places.