We are happy to share a new open-access publication by Prof. Dr. Anna-Maria Getoš Kalac and Lea Feuerbach: “Small-Scaling Imprisonment in the Balkans – the ‘Holy Grail’ of Resocialisation?”
(Central European Journal of Comparative Law; DOI: https://doi.org/10.47078/2025.2.127-165).
Across Europe, small-scale detention and detention houses—smaller, community-integrated facilities designed around normalisation, dynamic security, and reintegration—are increasingly promoted as a promising way to minimise “detention damage” while maximising resocialisation. But is “small-scaling” truly the long-searched penal reform breakthrough for the Balkans, or does it risk becoming another attractive idea without the conditions to succeed?
The article tackles this question by:
- introducing the concept of an “era of penal contradiction”, where punitive pressures (including penal populism) coexist with—and often undermine—official commitments to rehabilitation and reintegration;
- mapping penologically relevant trends and indicators in the Balkans and neighbouring countries; and
- placing the debate in the context of recent EU policy momentum explicitly supporting small-scale detention and detention houses.
The authors conclude with a first evidence-based assessment of what “small-scaling” could realistically mean for the Balkans—and what would be needed to pilot it credibly, humanely, and effectively.