Rewind to Wednesday

This past Wednesday marked another field studies day. Our destination? Eger! Eger is located in Northern Hungary and is most famous for its castle, cathedral, Turkish remains, and best of all, wine. Founded in the 10th century by St. Stephen, Eger has a rich history. Eger was a successful wine town until it changed dramatically under Turkish occupation in the 11th century. The Siege of Eger is a famous battle in which a small army of 2,000 Hungarians defeated the massive Turkish Army composed of over 80,000 soldiers (score one for Hungary). To this day Eger is a flourishing city and has various historical remains that attracts tourists year round.

One of our primary reasons for visiting Eger was to visit the local prison and take a tour. Now unlike some of my classmates, I was pumped about this visit. The governor of the prison not only talked with us but gave us a thorough tour of the prison's facilities as well. The prison was very clean (and almost pretty) and held around 200 prisoners. Prisoners are divided between men and women, smoker and non-smoker, sentenced and non-sentenced, and then the more informal separations such as what crime you committed, etc. The governor was not afraid to tell us the truth of the Hungarian prison system and did not try to hide the facts. For instance, Hungary's prisons (must like the United States') face a large overcrowding problem in which prisons are unable to meet the capacity quota. What was different was the overall attitude towards the prisoners (for this prison at least; I cannot necessarily compare it to the overall prison system in Hungary). This prison was more concerned with rehabilitation than punishment. Although they were strict with their prisoners, the prison faculty focused on rehabilitating the prisoners into society after they were released, which is something I do not think we do enough in the United States. The prison implemented community service programs for its prisoners to give back to society. The governor of the prison said something that really stuck with me, "The community cannot expect the prison to do all the work. Reintegration will require all members of the community to work together to achieve successful rehabilitation" (Those were not his exact words but you get the gist of it). While you may question this form of justice, it must be working for them. the prison has not had a successful escape since the 70s and they have not had a successful suicide since the 90s. Visiting the prison was one of my favorite field days thus far, and I am thankful the Governor of the prison gave us such an informative tour.

After visiting the jail we walked around town and visited the castle where Hungarians lived during Turkish occupation. We also visited St. Stephen's basilica and enjoyed the local wine, which was absolutely delicious. Here are some pictures I took throughout the day: