Jail authorities hope a trip to the infamous Nazi death camp will turn criminals into model citizens
Jail authorities hope a trip to the infamous Nazi death camp will turn criminals into model citizensPoland's prison service authorities have come up with a unique way to transform criminals. They have decided to take the prisoners to Auschwitz Nazi Germany's most infamous death camp as "an element of their rehabilitation programme".
A spokesperson from the Auschwitz museum said they had agreed to the request from authorities in southern Poland.
The convicts will get a guided tour of the camp, in which an estimated 1. 5 million people perished, and attend a course on Auschwitz's history and the crimes the Third Reich perpetrated against millions of people across Europe.
"It's going to be shock therapy for them," said Major Luiza Salapa from the prison service, explaining that by learning in graphic detail about the horrors of the camp the convicts might move away from the criminal behaviour that brought them to prison.
"They'll learn that a terrible system was created through the acceptance of violence and oppression."
Materials given to prison guards extol the visits saying that they should help "shape the prisoners' moral outlook towards the community and stop them displaying contempt and intolerance."
