YouTube Transcript:
The German prison program that inspired Connecticut

sixty minutes rewind not many issues can
unite Democrats and Republicans but
criminal justice reform is one of them
after 30 years of being tough on crime
in the u.s. no other nation incarcerate
smore of its citizens than we do we have
5% of the world's population but 25% of
its prisoners the cost of housing all
those inmates eighty billion dollars a
year
we found that American politicians and
prison supervisors are looking for new
ideas in Germany the main objective of
German prisons is rehabilitation not
retribution Germany spends less money on
prisons but gets better results their
recidivism rate is about half the US
rate we wondered if Germany had found a
key to prison reform so we visited three
German prisons but our trip started in a
small resort town about 100 miles north
of Berlin when the weather's warm the
lakeside town var and Germany attracts
families and tourists we found burned
younger there with his sister and niece
out for a stroll eating ice cream
sundaes and innocent scene if ever there
was one but younga is a convicted
murderer
currently serving a life sentence for a
contract killing he shot a woman to
death in cold blood
we spoke with him by the lake this is
part of your sentence this is part of
your punishment as well this is about
being reintegrated into a normal life
and that means rehabilitation and all
that so for me yes this is part of me
show this doesn't look much like
punishment yeah yes well that's the
German fairy tale
after 15 years in prison he's earned
weekend leave for good behavior he's on
track for early release in Germany 75
percent of lifers are paroled after 20
years or less if someone says to himself
is a German fairy tale if he doesn't
commit any crime send him off to release
it's okay you can think about this for
imprisonment what he wants yes is a
psychologist by training
he's now director of prisons in
Mecklenburg Western Pomerania a state in
North Germany along the baltic about the
size of New Hampshire
there are rich fields here brilliant Sun
sets and vol deck the maximum security
prison where Bernd younga is serving
time should he have a future for himself
he took a life yes he should he should
he should yes invited us to vol day to
show us how the German system works
there you go it is reintegration into
society train them to find a different
way to handle their situation outside
life without further crimes life without
creating new victims things like that
where does punishment come in the
incarceration the imprisonment itself is
punishment you the loss of freedom
that's it I think Americans think crime
and punishment you say punishment is not
even part of the goal of a German prison
no at all not at all so life inside
prison mirrors life outside as much as
possible germans call it normalization
it starts with small prison populations
low-level offenders get fines or
probation prison is reserved for the
worst of the worst murderers rapists
career criminals we were surprised how
quiet and peaceful it was inside walnut
we wondered where all the inmates were
it turns out they were relaxing outside
on this sunny day
this is unbelievable you're in for
murder and you have a key to yourself
cells have doors not bars it's for
privacy inmates can decorate as they
please we saw your new Bach playing
video games in his cell he told us he
was convicted of large-scale cocaine
trafficking and gun possession he's
serving seven years compared to cells in
the United States this is quite
luxurious also spoofing yes it is
comfortable here as a prisoner here it's
alright he says being separated from his
family makes prison hard not the
conditions he has a private bathroom and
things that would give American prison
guards the jitters you have darts we've
got a letter opener you have legs on the
table that you could break off and use
as a club you've got quite a bit of
freedom in here what I know gone to a
knock on door gosh I haven't even
thought about that here this is normal
mule box day is normal too he gets up
and goes to work in the prison kitchen
after his shift
there's R&R darts in the common room
beach volleyball in the yard there's a
lot to do he told us my course painting
course pottery smuggling of old soccer
Jim crocheting painting and crochet yeah
my aunt Hagen yes painting and crochet
and in crochet we make hats oven mitts
whatever you need we visited several
German prisons and were amazed how
laid-back everybody seemed at each of
them prisoners and guards high during
prison outside Berlin is as clean and
bright as a Google campus the prison is
surrounded by fences not walls so
inmates can see the outside world the
prison uniform street clothes for the
inmate who finds this too stressful
there's yoga
this probably isn't the image that comes
to mind when most Americans think of
German prisons that's likely to conjure
a brutal images from World War two but
following that war respect for the human
dignity and freedom of all people was
written into the German constitution
privacy is sacrosanct there is no death
penalty at old facilities like Tegel in
Berlin or new ones like hi during the
focus is on humane treatment and
rehabilitation prison guards are key
they're well-paid and highly trained
they spend two years learning psychology
communication skills conflict management
yessuh calls them calm down experts
calming down calming down calming down
not showing power too much I'm not
showing guns not showing weapons they
use solitary confinement sparingly
yessir says there's little violence in
german prisons how do you explain that
if you treat them as if they are your
enemy they will react as enemies they
will react as as dangerous in fact many
of them are dangerous we were up there
on a row where everyone you asked I was
in for murder murder murder they all
human beings and they know a violent
manner and we do exactly the other way
around don't be aggressive show them
that there is a different kind of
conversation possible the conversation
starts right away it's based on therapy
psychologists make an initial assessment
of all new inmates and devise
personalized prison plans for them
recommendations for counseling classes
vocational training and work inmates who
follow the plan earn greater freedom and
early release we cannot see the sense in
just locking people up for their whole
lives
your prisons will fill up and you have
to build new prisons and so on and I
think that was the situation in the u.s.
the story will continue after this
with more than two million inmates in US
prisons more Americans are coming to
Germany seeking solutions we joined US
prison and law enforcement officials on
this tour in Berlin Connecticut Governor
Dannel Malloy was part of the group he
was impressed by what he saw I can tell
you they have a lower crime rate than we
do they have a lower recidivism rate
than we do and they're spending a lot
less money on jails in the u.s. we've
got much greater access to guns we've
got race as a factor and ethnicity as a
factor are the things being done here
directly transferable to the United
States I think there are many things
that are transferable that doesn't mean
that it's a perfect fit but I think we
have to challenge ourselves to do better
this doesn't have the same vibe doesn't
feel like the prisons in Germany at all
a little bit more intense may relevant
more intense
John Wetzel is Pennsylvania's Secretary
of Corrections three years ago he went
to Germany looking for ideas to improve
his prisons he showed us around
Graterford outside Philadelphia it's the
largest maximum-security prison in
Pennsylvania 3,300 prisoners are packed
in here we were walking through an 80
year old cellblock I'll stop back when
this inmate approached he said he was a
low-level drug offender Wetzel started
as a prison guard three decades ago back
in 1980 there were 8,000 inmates in the
state today there are 50,000 physical
and sexual assaults are a fact of life
at Graterford there are more than 700
lifers Pennsylvania State where life
means life so if you're doing life here
you're not gonna be walking around a
park eating sundaes with your family
when Wetzel was in Germany
urug yessuh gave him a tour of valdek
you were skeptical it almost sounded
like Disneyland
oh there's very few inmates and inmates
have their own keys and everybody gets
along and everything's hunky-dory I mean
who's buying that story not me
by the end of his visit Wetzel was
buying it
he started implementing some of the
things he saw in Germany like more
intensive staff training greater freedom
for inmates with good behavior and
programs to help them reenter society we
the American public called for tougher
sentencing throwing away the key are we
there for this more lenient approach I
think our culture we don't want to think
lenient we don't want to thank soft we
got here by being tough on crime
I think we're getting away from it by
being smart on crime and and smart on
crime happens to be more lenient
sometimes Germans think their prisons
are too lenient but the system is
mandated and protected by the country's
highest court there are problems they
have gangs they have drugs they've seen
signs of Islamic radicalization they try
to counter it all with counseling but
there are inmates deemed too dangerous
to release they wind up in something
called preventive detention at Berlin's
Tegel prison
we met Chris templayer he has spent the
eighteen years not knowing when or if
you'll ever get out they think I am
dangerous so what can I say what can I
show them I don't know you did bad
things really bad things yes he wouldn't
tell us his crimes and German privacy
laws kept us from finding out his life
is confined to this well-appointed
apartment like building look around this
is life in prison for Germany's worst
offenders you expect to be here until
you die maybe yes but convicted murderer
burned younger expects to get out in
September he stuck to his plan and
earned the freedom to leave prison every
day for work a maintenance job at the
nearby port you could escape if you
wanted to yeah but you don't not why not
very simple my time is almost over and I
want to be done with this chapter of my
life once and for all at Pennsylvania's
Graterford prison this is where
murderers are housed locked up 23 hours
a day I think more now than any time in
the history of our country we have the
right and left agree that that we've
frankly screwed up the correction system
for 30 years and it's time to do
something different it really starts
with understanding that you know human
beings value isn't diminished by being
incarcerated what you're talking about
requires a huge mind shift on the part
of all of us it's crossing the Grand
Canyon that's what we're talking about