Irena's Office

May 21st, 2009. We met with Chief Probation Officer, Irena Szostak, in her office. We were introduced to her staff and then joined her for brunch. She explained that the Wielkolposka District is composed of 21 regional courts. A regional court is the equivalent of a county court in Iowa. Chief Szostak supervises the largest probation system in Poland. The Wielkolposka supervision agency supervises more than 43,000 cases!!! The next largest system in Poland has 10 regions. Chief Szostak has a staff of 288 full time, professional Probation Officers. Caseloads in the Wielkolposka region run approximately 150 cases per agent. Agents are expected to conduct one face to face contact each month. There is only one level of supervision. There are no distinctions for Intensive, Sex Offender, Low Risk, etc. Often these are field contacts. Probation Officers in Poland are either assigned to Family Court Services or Criminal Court Services. We'll provide more information on that distinction in a later post.