{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,17]],"date-time":"2025-11-17T21:41:54Z","timestamp":1763415714922,"version":"3.41.2"},"reference-count":48,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,29]],"date-time":"2024-01-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1706486400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Public Health"],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Background<\/jats:title><jats:p>In 1952\u20131989, special juvenile detention centers, called Jugendh\u00e4user, were established in the German Democratic Republic. There, juvenile delinquents had to not only complete their sentences, but they were also supposed to be re-educated into conscious socialist personalities through a system of collective education proposed by Soviet pedagogue Anton Makarenko. Among twelve Jugendh\u00e4user in East Germany, the ones in Halle and Dessau were considered to have the most severe conditions due to the praxis of mental and physical violence. For the first time, based on the personal files of former juvenile prisoners and archival documents of medical services, we reconstruct a picture of the health status of prisoners and medical care in both these Jugendh\u00e4user.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>We analyzed personal files of juvenile prisoners from the Archive of the Correctional Facility in Halle and unpublished documents from the Saxony-Anhalt State Archive, Magdeburg Department, the State Archive in Leipzig and the Stasi Records Archive in Halle. For the examination of these sources, we implemented the historical-critical method.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>The Jugendh\u00e4user had a system of outpatient and inpatient treatment. Although the medical services rated the level of health care as good at those detention centers, numerous complaints from juveniles, as well as cases of failure to provide assistance, indicated certain deficiencies. Cases of violence in juvenile prisons were common, especially in the Jugendhaus Halle. Brawls between inmates led to injuries and sometimes even to deaths. Fear of beatings resulted in desperate acts such as self-harm, suicide and escapes from prison.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>The health status of young prisoners in the Jugendh\u00e4user in Halle and Dessau was negatively affected by violence and often by lack of medical care. The prevalence of violence can be attributed to challenges of the penal system as well as deficiencies of the medical services. Since repressive means were used to overcome the violence, such efforts were not successful. The medical services did not offer specialized care for juveniles with mental and learning disorders or those who required psychological or even psychotherapeutic support. Physical health issues were also often ignored due to the stigmatization of sick juveniles as malingerers.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2024.1288025","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,29]],"date-time":"2024-01-29T04:19:30Z","timestamp":1706501970000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Adolescents\u2019 life between violence and discipline. Medical care in the \u201cJugendh\u00e4user\u201d juvenile detention centers in East Germany in the 1960s\u20131980s"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Oxana","family":"Kosenko","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Florian","family":"Steger","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,29]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","first-page":"211","volume-title":"\u201cDer Weg ins Leben\u201d: DDR-Strafvollzug im Jugendhaus Dessau","author":"Rescheleit","year":"2002"},{"volume-title":"Den neuen Menschen schaffen. Die Umerziehung von schwererziehbaren und straff\u00e4lligen Jugendlichen in der DDR (1945\u20131990)","year":"2004","author":"Zimmermann","key":"ref2"},{"volume-title":"Jugendstrafvollzug in der DDR am Beispiel des Jugendhauses Halle","year":"2006","author":"Reitel","key":"ref3"},{"volume-title":"Hoheneck - Gr\u00f6\u00dftes Frauengef\u00e4ngnis der DDR (1950\u20131989)","year":"","key":"ref4"},{"first-page":"6","volume-title":"Object analysis Jugendhaus Dessau, 1981","year":"","key":"ref5"},{"first-page":"109","volume-title":"Object analysis Jugendhaus Halle, 1981","year":"","key":"ref6"},{"key":"ref7","first-page":"181","volume-title":"Mut zur Utopie. Zur P\u00e4dagogik A.S. Makarenkos","author":"Furrer","year":"1979"},{"key":"ref8","first-page":"180","volume-title":"Zum Beispiel Makarenko. Ann\u00e4herungen an eine kontextuelle P\u00e4dagogik","author":"Weitz","year":"1992"},{"key":"ref9","first-page":"250","volume-title":"Der Jugendwerkhof im Jugendhilfesystem der DDR","author":"J\u00f6rns","year":"1995"},{"key":"ref10","first-page":"312","volume-title":"Frohe Zukunft. Keiner kommt hier besser raus. Strafvollzug im Jugendhaus Halle.","author":"Reitel","year":"2002"},{"key":"ref11","first-page":"96","volume-title":"Medizin hinter Gittern: Das Stasi-Haftkrankenhaus in Hohensch\u00f6nhausen","author":"Voigt","year":"2011"},{"key":"ref12","first-page":"96","volume-title":"Der verbotene Stadtteil: Stasi-Sperrbezirk in Berlin-Hohensch\u00f6nhausen","author":"Erler","year":"2005"},{"key":"ref13","first-page":"382","volume-title":"Gefangen in Hohensch\u00f6nhausen: Stasi-H\u00e4ftlinge berichten","author":"Knabe","year":"2007"},{"key":"ref14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"114523","DOI":"10.1016\/j.socscimed.2021.114523","article-title":"Sample sizes for saturation in qualitative research: a systematic review of empirical tests","volume":"292","author":"Hennink","year":"2022","journal-title":"Soc Sci Med"},{"key":"ref15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1753","DOI":"10.1177\/1049732315617444","article-title":"Sample size in qualitative interview studies: guided by information power","volume":"26","author":"Malterud","year":"2016","journal-title":"Qual Health Res"},{"key":"ref16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"352","DOI":"10.4324\/9781315728131","volume-title":"The pursuit of history: Aims, methods & new directions in the study of modern history","author":"Tosh","year":"2015"},{"volume-title":"Quarterly evaluation of statistical material on the situation in the penal system for the first quarter of 1962, 1962","year":"","key":"ref17"},{"first-page":"558","volume-title":"Report of the Party conference initiative of the medical services, 1976","year":"","key":"ref18"},{"volume-title":"Work plan of the medical service for April 1977","year":"","key":"ref19"},{"volume-title":"Semiannual report on juvenile prisoners for the second half of 1963, 1964","year":"","key":"ref20"},{"volume-title":"Reports on the state of health of the juvenile prisoners from the years 1976\u201377 in the Jugendhaus in Dessau","year":"","key":"ref21"},{"volume-title":"Assessment of the state of health, second half of 1983","year":"","key":"ref22"},{"first-page":"558","volume-title":"Reports of the head of the Jugendhaus Halle from 1974\u20131975","year":"","key":"ref23"},{"volume-title":"Complaint of a juvenile prisoner to the Ministry of Health of the GDR, 1975","year":"","key":"ref24"},{"volume-title":"Extraordinary Consultation in 1974","year":"","key":"ref25"},{"volume-title":"Report of the contract physician and neurologist Dr. S. on the diagnosis of the juvenile T., 1975","year":"","key":"ref26"},{"volume-title":"Quarterly evaluation of statistical materials of the situation in the penal system for the first quarter of 1962","year":"","key":"ref27"},{"volume-title":"Assessment of the state of health of detainees in June 1977","year":"","key":"ref28"},{"volume-title":"Neurological expert opinion on the medical service of the Jugendhaus Halle","year":"","key":"ref29"},{"volume-title":"Minutes of the departmental meeting, 1974","year":"","key":"ref30"},{"volume-title":"Minutes of the departmental meeting, 1974","year":"","key":"ref31"},{"volume-title":"Report on statistics for the year 1972","year":"","key":"ref32"},{"volume-title":"Report on statistics for the year 1973","year":"","key":"ref33"},{"volume-title":"Final report on the escape of juvenile prisoner W., 1972","year":"","key":"ref34"},{"volume-title":"Final medical report from the Prison Hospital Leipzig, 1975","year":"","key":"ref35"},{"volume-title":"Re-admission to the Prison Hospital Leipzig from the Jugendhaus Dessau, 1961","year":"","key":"ref36"},{"volume-title":"Copy of a letter of the juvenile prisoner T.E. to his parents, [1970]","year":"","key":"ref37"},{"first-page":"1","volume-title":"Immediate report from the Jugendhaus Halle, 1989","year":"","key":"ref38"},{"first-page":"13","volume-title":"Personality assessment of the adolescent, 1987","year":"","key":"ref39"},{"volume-title":"Instructions on tattoos, 1977, 1978","year":"","key":"ref40"},{"volume-title":"Instructions on tattoos, 1979, 1981","year":"","key":"ref41"},{"volume-title":"Instruction on tattoos, 1970","year":"","key":"ref42"},{"volume-title":"Letter from the head of the district authority of the German People\u2019s Police in Halle to the human resources department about the contract physician E., 1979","year":"","key":"ref43"},{"volume-title":"Quarterly evaluation of statistical materials of the situation in the penal system for the first quarter of 1962. 1962","year":"","key":"ref44"},{"volume-title":"A detainee\u2019s statement on his tattoo, 1983","year":"","key":"ref45"},{"volume-title":"Die Entwicklung des Strafvollzuges in den neuen Bundesl\u00e4ndern. Bestandsaufnahme und analyse unter besonderer Ber\u00fccksichtigung der Situation der Strafvollzugsbediensteten aus der ehemaligen DDR","year":"2000","author":"Essig","key":"ref46"},{"volume-title":"\u201cIn Einem Anfall von depression\u2026\u201d. Selbstt\u00f6tungen in der DDR","year":"2006","author":"Grashoff","key":"ref47"},{"volume-title":"T\u00e4towierungen im Strafvollzug. Hafterfahrungen, die unter die Haut gehen","year":"2006","author":"Bammann","key":"ref48"}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Public Health"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpubh.2024.1288025\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,29]],"date-time":"2024-01-29T04:19:56Z","timestamp":1706501996000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpubh.2024.1288025\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,29]]},"references-count":48,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/fpubh.2024.1288025"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fpubh.2024.1288025","relation":{},"ISSN":["2296-2565"],"issn-type":[{"type":"electronic","value":"2296-2565"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,29]]},"article-number":"1288025"}}