Once again, steep GmbH, based in Bonn, prevailed in the planned tender by the Federal State of Berlin for the operation of the workshops in the Heidering correctional facility (JVA). Since 2014, steep has been responsible for furnishing, equipping and operating the workshops with currently 14 employees under the management of Thomas Brümmerstedt. The contract was concluded as of May 1, 2021 for four years with an optional extension.
“Of course we are delighted that the quality of our work has been convincing,” says Thomas Brümmerstedt, head of the workshops. “However, we do not consider this merely a proof of our performance, but also a sign of trust that we have to earn anew every day,” Brümmerstedt continues.
The Heidering correctional facility is a custodial institution of the Federal State of Berlin for up to 647 male detainees. In two workshops with a total production area of around 7,000m², the inmates carry out tasks in the fields of logistics, confection, assembly, manufacturing as well as carpentry and metalwork under the supervision of steep staff. The logistics facility offers a system of gates for the safe loading and unloading of the delivered goods. As the private operator of the workshops, steep is responsible for the economic utilisation of the production capacities and the purposeful employment of up to 280 inmates. Daily employment in the workshops offers detainees the significant opportunity to acquire a regular daily structuring routine and thus plays an important role in the prison’s approach to resocialisation.
Within the steep organisational structure, the services at Heidering correctional facility are integrated into the Managed Services in Partnership (MSiP) business unit headed by Gabriele Schächer. The business unit’s objective is to bundle and implement services for public clients in a partnership-based, demand- and solution-oriented comprehensive concept. These services usually relate to extensive and complex facilities that often have to meet technologically demanding requirements or are subject to special safety requirements.
Thus, since 2006, the MSiP unit has also been operating as a private contractor in the partial privatisation project at the Hünfeld correctional facility, where it provides about 40% of the services that do not constitute sovereign interference in the inmates’ rights.
steep GmbH’s strength is its project business, in which it analyses all requirements, takes on any relevant tasks and implements a solution tailored to the customer through close consultation. In doing so, among other things, vendor independence creates the necessary freedom to work together with partners that are ideally suited for the respective project.
Customer trust is an essential factor for steep GmbH. In some business areas, collaboration already spans decades and bears witness to this. This is based on the endeavour to cultivate this trust and to live a partnership-based cooperation in all areas.