Their purpose is rehabilitation--to enable prisoners to lead a life of "social responsibility without committing criminal offenses" upon release--and public safety.
There are 183 prisons in all, with the most located in Germany's most populous states Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia.
Because of a 2006 decision of the Federal Constitutional Court, also juvenile corrections has to be put on a legal basis by the end of 2007.
By 1 January 2008, prison laws for adults would come into effect in three Länder (Bavaria, Hamburg, Lower Saxony).
This direct contact facilitates decision-making and ensures the ministry is close to the life of the prison service.
As a rule, pretrial confinement is conducted at a facility close to the public prosecutor's office that is prosecuting the case.
People who receive long sentences are imprisoned at a maximum security prison (Langstrafenanstalt).
The largest foreign groups were from Poland, Tunisia, Libya, Czech Republic and Georgia.