CONVICTS FREED

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30534, 1 September 1964, Page 17

CONVICTS FREED

Amnesty In Poland fN Z PA -Reuter— Copyright) WARSAW, August 31. Prison gates have been swinging open for thousands of convicted Poles since the Government granted an amnesty to mark ths twentieth anniversary of Communist Poland on July 22. Ministry of Justice officials say that most of the nation’s prisons have been emptied of half their inmates. Although the Government has decided to pardon several classes of first offenders, Polish society in general 's less willing to do so.

Prejudice, mistrust and hostility shown by many directors in factories and offices against the freed men and women is hampering the work of rehabilitation.

Skilled men with brief prison records are meeting curt refusals from state employers, who say that they “do not want to be bothered with gaolbirds.”

For many of those released, the best opportunity of reemployment lies in work as labourer on a state farm, at a building site, or in heavy transport, where qualifications and training do not count. The amnesty applied mainly to first offenders convicted of minor offences. On humanitarian grounds, other classes of offenders, such as women raising young children, teen-agers and elderly people were also pardoned. A number of categories were strictly excluded from the decree, including those sentenced for hooliganism, robbery, bribery and corruption, sabotage and foreign currency offences.