Switzerland · Bern · seat Bern

Bern canton: Hindelbank, Thorberg and family visits

Bern is a bilingual canton and the federal city, which makes foreigners ask the federal government where a prisoner is. The federal government does not run a national inmate index. Prisons are cantonal. Hindelbank, in the east of the canton, is the women’s prison German-speaking Switzerland treats as the default, and it is still only the right door if the papers say so. Thorberg, in Krauchthal, is a men’s closed prison in the same canton and not a wing of Hindelbank. Neither publishes names.

Bern: how this area actually works

The city of Bern is not the whole canton. Biel/Bienne is bilingual and a different urban centre. Thun, Burgdorf and the Emmental are different roads. Courts in the city are not the prisons. A federal criminal case can be tried at the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona, in Ticino, while the person is held in a canton that agreed to take them. That sentence is worth reading twice. The place of the hearing, the place of the crime and the place of detention are three addresses.

Hindelbank holds women in closed and other regimes under Bern’s authority, including women from other German-speaking cantons when placement works that way. It does not hold every woman in Switzerland. Champ-Dollon in Geneva and other cantonal units also appear in women’s cases. Thorberg is for men and is not Hindelbank. If you have two relatives, you may have two cantons. Read each letter. French-speaking Bern and German-speaking Bern do not split the prison system into two countries. They do change the language you will meet at a counter.

Families book a hotel by the bear pit and call Hindelbank a short ride. It is a regional ride toward the east of the canton. Thorberg is another direction. Probation is not a visiting room. If the person has been moved to Zürich’s Pöschwies or to a Romandy canton, the federal city will not help. Recheck. Concordat cooperation is not a public map of cells.

Finding someone held in Bern

Confirm through the lawyer or the Bern authority named on the papers. kkjpd.ch explains Swiss coordination and does not hold the roster. Bring the date of birth and case number. Embassies need the canton. A Geneva or Zürich desk will not see a Bern file automatically. A news item about a federal investigation is not a current gate, because federal cases are still housed by cantons.

Write Hindelbank, Thorberg, or the other establishment, and write the town. Foreign visitors should not say “Berne prison” and hope. If the person is at Pöschwies, use Zürich. If the person is at Champ-Dollon, use Geneva and expect French procedures. If the person is in Biel’s orbit, confirm the address rather than assuming the city of Bern. Bilingual signage is not a placement.

Visits and family practicalities

Book visits with the holding authority. Women’s rules at Hindelbank and men’s rules at Thorberg do not copy each other. This page has no hours. Check the live cantonal page for the named house. A timetable for “Bern” that names neither establishment is useless.

Bring a passport. Children need permission and any consent. German is the usual working language at these houses. Ask for an interpreter if you need French or another language. Do not assume the canton’s bilingualism staffs every visiting room. Read the property sheet that matches the approval. Pack for that house only.

Getting around Bern

Bern’s station is a national junction. Hindelbank is an S-Bahn or bus journey toward the east, using official directions, not a pin on the Münster. Thorberg needs the Krauchthal approach the canton publishes. Zurich and Geneva airports are the international fields, followed by a train. Give the driver the establishment’s name. “Federal prison” is a phrase Switzerland does not use for these gates.

Add identification time. A morning in the city and an afternoon at Hindelbank needs slack. Stay nearer the establishment if the slot is tight. If the person is in another canton, take that train from Bern station rather than remaining because the capital felt official. The federal buildings are not the visiting room.

Prison guides in Bern

Facility articles for houses we have sourced in this canton. Empty coverage here is this site’s map, not proof that nobody is held in Bern.

Hindelbank · Prison (women)Justizvollzugsanstalt HindelbankHindelbank in Bern canton is the women’s prison German-speaking Switzerland references — cantonal Besuche, not a federal inmate index.Read the guide →

Questions families actually ask

Does the federal government list prisoners?
No. Even in the federal city, custody lists are cantonal. Hindelbank and Thorberg are Bern establishments. Another canton will not answer for them.
Are Hindelbank and Thorberg the same prison?
No. Hindelbank is the women’s prison. Thorberg, in Krauchthal, is a men’s closed prison. Both are in Bern canton. The approval names one.
Is every Swiss woman at Hindelbank?
No. Hindelbank is the major German-speaking women’s site, and cantonal placement still varies. Geneva and other cantons hold women too. Read the papers.

Other Cantons in Switzerland

canton · AarauAargauAargauAargau sits between Zürich, Basel and Lucerne, seated in Aarau, with Baden, Brugg and the towns of the Aare. Lenzburg prison is the closed men’s establishment associated with the canton, in the town of Lenzburg, not in Aarau’s old town. It is cantonal. It does not publish names. It is not Pöschwies and it is not a Basel prison. Families who know only the big-city gates miss Lenzburg, and families who know only Lenzburg miss a remand unit somewhere else.Open this area →canton · HerisauAppenzell AusserrhodenAppenzell AusserrhodenAppenzell Ausserrhoden is the outer half-canton, seated in Herisau, not in the famous village of Appenzell. That village is Innerrhoden, a separate canton. The mix-up is so common it should be the first line of any travel note. Neither half publishes inmate names. Small eastern cantons place many sentenced people with concordat partners, often toward St. Gallen. Ask which canton holds the person before you photograph a village square.Open this area →canton · AppenzellAppenzell InnerrhodenAppenzell InnerrhodenAppenzell Innerrhoden is the inner half-canton, seated in the village of Appenzell. It is one of the smallest cantonal territories in Switzerland. It does not publish inmate names, and it does not operate a large closed prison for every sentence. Concordat placement elsewhere is ordinary. Families who arrive for the square and assume the gate is beside it are in the wrong kind of building. Ask where the person is actually held.Open this area →canton · LiestalBasel-LandschaftBasel-LandschaftBasel-Landschaft is the cantonal countryside around the city, seated in Liestal, not in Basel. It is a full canton with its own authority. It does not publish inmate names. People assume every prisoner from the region is in the city canton because that is where the hotels and the station are. Sometimes the papers say otherwise. Sometimes they place the person in Aargau, Solothurn or Bern. Liestal is the capital you should be able to say aloud before you book.Open this area →canton · BaselBasel-StadtBasel-StadtBasel-Stadt is the city canton, a few square kilometres on the Rhine, seated in Basel. Basel-Landschaft is the other half, a different canton with its capital in Liestal. Families merge them, and they merge both with Germany and France because the tram crosses borders. Prisons do not merge. There is no national Swiss roster, and a German or French police desk will not read you a Swiss one. Ask which canton holds the person: the city, the countryside canton, or somewhere else entirely.Open this area →canton · FribourgFribourgFribourgFribourg is a bilingual canton, French and German, seated in the city of Fribourg, between Bern and Lausanne. Both languages appear in official life. That does not split the prisons into two countries, and it does not publish a roster. The German name Freiburg is the same canton, not the German city. Families who search the wrong Freiburg waste a day in the wrong country. Ask which language the holding establishment uses, and ask which canton it is.Open this area →canton · GenevaGenevaGenèveGeneva is a canton as well as a city, wrapped by France, and Champ-Dollon is its remand and local prison. The establishment is cantonal. It is chronically discussed in public and still does not publish a list of names. It is not Pöschwies in Zürich and it is not Bochuz in Vaud. International organisations in the city do not run a prison index and cannot tell you who is held. This page will not invent visiting hours.Open this area →canton · GlarusGlarusGlarusGlarus is a small valley canton south of Lake Zürich, seated in the town of Glarus. It does not publish inmate names, and it does not pretend to warehouse every sentence locally. Concordat placement in a larger partner canton is an ordinary outcome. Families who take the short train from Zürich and expect a gate in the valley may be in the wrong canton. Ask. The mountains at the end of the valley are not a prison wall.Open this area →canton · ChurGraubündenGraubündenGraubünden is the large alpine canton, seated in Chur, with German, Romansh and Italian in different valleys. St. Moritz, Davos and the Engadin are not the capital, and they are not a prison district you can guess. Custody is cantonal and unpublished. A person arrested in a resort may be held in Chur’s arrangements or in another canton entirely. Ask before you buy a holiday week and call it a visit.Open this area →canton · DelémontJuraJuraJura is the youngest Swiss canton, seated in Delémont, French-speaking, along the mountains north of Bern and beside Basel’s world. It does not publish inmate names. It does not keep every sentenced prisoner in a large local closed prison. Concordat placement in other Romandy cantons, or cooperation with neighbours, is something you confirm rather than resent. Families who look for a prison in Porrentruy or Delémont because the canton is small may be aimed at Neuchâtel, Vaud or Geneva instead.Open this area →canton · LucerneLucerneLuzernLucerne is a central Swiss canton, seated in the city of the same name, with Emmen, Kriens and the rural districts around the lake. Prisons are cantonal. There is no national roster, and a postcard of the chapel bridge is not a gate. People held on Lucerne cases may be in a local establishment or, under the central Swiss concordat, in another canton’s facility. The reverse is also true. Ask which canton holds the person this week, not which canton issued the charge.Open this area →canton · NeuchâtelNeuchâtelNeuchâtelNeuchâtel is a French-speaking canton on its own lake, seated in the city of the same name, between Vaud, Bern and the Jura. Custody is cantonal and unpublished. A watchmaking town’s fame does not create a roster. People held on local cases may be in a cantonal establishment or, under the Latin concordat, in Vaud or Geneva. German-speaking Bern is the other direction and another language. Ask which canton and which language before you book the lake.Open this area →

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Source

Confirm location, visits and hours on the official service. This site does not list who is in custody.

Official locatorCantonal prison administrations / KKJPDOpen official site →