Czech Republic, critical criminology, critical social work, prison, re-entry, resettlement

In this chapter, the author presents and discusses the Czech post-penitentiary social work system and argues that the system is an ideal example of institutional destruction caused by the neoliberal revolution. The system itself is only a façade to veil and defend the fact that the system already functions in terms of the minimal state concept (funding is minimal, and potential clients often must rely on themselves). Drawing on the zombie neoliberalism metaphor, the author argues that the contemporary post-penitentiary social work system is a zombie. The system is alive and existing in the sense that it systematically fulfills the façade purpose and function but, at the same time, dead and dysfunctional regarding its public and social work purpose. To support the argument, the author draws on relevant existing literature and reports and 197 interviews with persons in various roles regarding the Czech prison system and social work. As it is questionable whether the system could be repaired or is beyond any possibility of recovering, the author offers critical social work and bottom-up collaboration examples in the Czech Republic as potentially the only instruments to disrupt the neoliberal discourse and hegemony and dezombify the system at the end of the chapter.

In this chapter, the author presents and discusses the Czech post-penitentiary social work system and argues that the system is an ideal example of institutional destruction caused by the neoliberal revolution. The system itself is only a façade to veil and defend the fact that the system already functions in terms of the minimal state concept (funding is minimal, and potential clients often must rely on themselves). Drawing on the zombie neoliberalism metaphor, the author argues that the contemporary post-penitentiary social work system is a zombie. The system is alive and existing in the sense that it systematically fulfills the façade purpose and function but, at the same time, dead and dysfunctional regarding its public and social work purpose. To support the argument, the author draws on relevant existing literature and reports and 197 interviews with persons in various roles regarding the Czech prison system and social work. As it is questionable whether the system could be repaired or is beyond any possibility of recovering, the author offers critical social work and bottom-up collaboration examples in the Czech Republic as potentially the only instruments to disrupt the neoliberal discourse and hegemony and dezombify the system at the end of the chapter.