A Look Behind the Cell Door

In a Vienna Prison: “Conditions Like a Nightmare”

The cells at the Vienna-Josefstadt Correctional Facility now house six—occupied—bunk beds, where six single beds were originally intended.(Bild: Daniel Domig)

Prison chaplain Daniela Schwimbersky uses a book to open a “keyhole” into the hopelessly overcrowded Vienna-Josefstadt Correctional Facility. Between the lines, the misery of the prison is revealed—a reality that those in charge do not even deny.

“Graues Haus,” “Einser,” and more: The many Viennese nicknames for Austria’s largest prison, the Josefstadt Correctional Facility, alone underscore its significance. Only staff and inmates know what it’s really like there. Until now. Prison chaplain Daniela Schwimbersky aims to offer, through her book (see below), a “peek into a world that hardly anyone knows.”