By Monika Veselá
Dr Lukáš Dirga has been researching the prison environment and related topics for a long time. He has a PhD in sociology and is currently working as an academic in the Department of Sociology at the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen and as a chief advisor to the Ministry of Justice.
He is the author of Humanisation of the Czech Prison System from the Perspectives of its Actors and also organises public lectures on the topic of prison escapes. He is working with Tomášem Kubínem, a colleague and former director of two Czech prisons, on a new publication about incarceration.
Czech street paper Nový Prostor spoke to him about punishment and rehabilitation, unguarded prison spaces and prisoner stereotyping.
This article first appeared in Novy Prostor, a magazine sold on the streets of Prague, Czechia, by people who have limited other ways of earning an income.