More than 300 convicted offenders were released on January 1, most of them from the women’s prison in Světlá nad Sázavou. The early releases took place under an amendment to the Criminal Code. The measure mainly applies to people serving sentences for failing to meet their maintenance, or alimony, obligations.

As of January 1, non-payment of child support has been decriminalised, meaning it will no longer constitute a criminal offence. There will, however, be one exception: parents who fail to pay child support and thereby expose their children to serious hardship will still face imprisonment. Until now, anyone who failed to pay child support for four consecutive months could be sentenced to up to three years in prison.

According to Iveta Novotná from the Association of Single-Parent Families, not punishing child support defaulters sends the wrong message to society:

“From our experience, if arrears last for more than two months, people really fall into a cycle from which it is very hard to get out.”

The changes to the Criminal Code were introduced by the previous government. Former Justice Minister Eva Decroix of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) says the cabinet put other sanctions in place for child support defaulters.

“We are increasing interest on unpaid child support. That means we are introducing a different form of penalty and increasing the motivation to pay the fee.”

However, the new Justice Minister from the ANO movement, Jeroným Tejc, disagrees with the decriminalisation of non-payment of child support and wants to reintroduce criminal penalties.

Other penalties related to cannabis

The New Year’s release will also apply to some prisoners convicted of drug-related offences.

Penalties related to cannabis are changing as well. It will now be legal to grow more plants at home and to possess larger quantities of cannabis. Judges in Prague, for example, have been preparing for the changes since September, reviewing thousands of cases, according to Barbora Walker, spokeswoman for the Prague Municipal Court.

Prisoners convicted of multiple offences should see their sentences reduced proportionally by the courts.

The reforms aim to ease the burden on the state budget and reduce the prison population. Czech prisons have long been overcrowded; according to the latest statistics from the end of October, they were operating at 98 percent capacity.

The amendment to the Criminal Code also introduced other changes, including lower penalties for repeat theft and for approving terrorism online. By contrast, some penalties have been tightened. For example, deepfake pornography is now a criminal offence, defined as the misuse of someone’s photos or videos to create explicit content.