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

canton of Bern The canton of Bern, or Berne (; ; ; ), is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. Its capital city, Bern, is also the ''de facto'' capital of Switzerland. The bear is the heraldic symbol of the c ...

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

minimum security A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where people are imprisoned under the authority of the state, usually as punishment for various crim ...

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

Gampelen Gampelen () 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 mentioned in 1179 as ''C ...

and

Ins INS or Ins may refer to: Places * Ins, Switzerland, a municipality * Creech Air Force Base (IATA airport code INS) * Indonesia, ITF and UNDP code INS * INS Park, an entertainment complex in China Biology *'' Ins'', a New World genus of bee flie ...

in the

and

Haut-Vully Haut-Vully () 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 January 2016 the fo ...

in the

canton of Fribourg The canton of Fribourg, also canton of Freiburg, is located in western Switzerland. The canton is bilingual, with French spoken by more than two thirds of the citizens and German by a little more than a quarter. Both are official languages in th ...

. 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 Murten connected to Lake Neuchatel by the Broye Canal, the latter connec ...

. 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 deb ...

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

Barracks Barracks are buildings used to accommodate military personnel and quasi-military personnel such as police. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word 'soldier's tent', but today barracks ar ...

were built for 100 inmates.

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

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. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

. Shortly after the end of the

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

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 return of a thing or person to its or their country of origin, respectively. 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 the return of mi ...

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, or simply the 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) i ...

. 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 (vehicle), trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or constructio ...

s, 500

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are calle ...

, 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 mi ...

s, 600

pigs The pig (''Sus domesticus''), also called swine (: swine) or hog, is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is named the domestic pig when distinguishing it from other members of the genus '' Sus''. Some authorities cons ...

and 100

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...

References

External links

Justizvollzugsanstalt Witzwil
Witzwil {{prison-stub

History

Current

See also

References

External links