The closing of the EuroPris expert group on Family Relations was marked by a workshop in April 2018 in Vienna. Just before the workshop, the Council of Ministers adopted the Council of Europe Recommendation CM/Rec (2018)5 on Children of imprisoned parents. At the workshop, participating experts called for EuroPris to support the Member States in the implementation of the Recommendation. At the Annual General Meeting in 2018, the EuroPris members responded to this call for support by agreeing to start an expert group on this subject. At the first meeting in 2019 in Cork, this expert group discussed how the support could best be provided.

Today, with this special edition newsletter that is dedicated to children of prisoners, we are proud to launch the tools and reports that the expert group members developed over the past two years. First of all, I would like to thank the expert group members for their commitment and hard work. And I would like to thank COPE (Children of Prisoners Europe) for their active involvement in the work of the group. Secondly, also very important, I would like to invite all countries to contribute to the Table of Recommendations and the Matrix on Data Collection. The more information we can collect and share, the more valuable these tools will become. We hope you find this information useful and always very much welcome your feedback.

To view the report, click here.

An interactive digital Table was developed that contains the whole Recommendation on Children of Prisoners. For each Article of the Recommendation, countries can indicate the implementation status, concrete practical measures that were implemented, future plans and reasons for non-implementation. The table should serve as an inspiration, support and stimulation to implement the CoE Recommendation. Countries that are not yet included are invited to submit their data and send them to [email protected].

To view the Table of Recommendations and Practices, click here.

It is estimated that the total number of children affected by parental imprisonment in the Council of Europe region amounts to 2,000,000 children. The exact number is not available since the practice and (legal) possibility to collect such data varies widely throughout Europe. This table provides per country an overview on if and how data are currently collected. Countries that are not yet included are invited to contribute and send their current practice to [email protected].

Click here to view the Data Collection Matrix.

A Child-friendly version of the Council of Europe Recommendation CM/Rec(2018)5 on children with imprisoned parents has been created in a form of a booklet called 'It's Time to Act', by Children of Prisoners in Europe (COPE). This booklet was designed to help encourage action, as well as being a useful resource for children, parents and professionals, to better support children with a parent in prison, advocate for and promote their rights. The booklet is now available in English, Dutch, German, Finnish, French, Greek and Polish languages.

To view the It's Time to Act booklet, click here.

In response to the call for supporting the Member States in implementing the CoE Recommendation CM/Rec (2018)5 on Children of imprisoned parents, the Children of prisoners expert group drafted an Implementation Guidance report. The report focuses on five aspects in relation to the implementation of the Recommendation: Security and normalisation; relationship between NGO’s and prison authorities; engagement with the justice family; child’s voice and data collection. Each of the chapters addresses the aims, current approaches, implementation suggestions and general remarks.

The Parental Responsibility Group in the Catalonian Prison Service provides for participatory and practical experiences for prisoners to live up to their parenting role more frequent and at a better quality. Through a collaboration of social entities and educational, leisure, health, family and social services that safeguard the rights of children and young people, a participatory network was created that shares the common goal of preserving and guaranteeing the well-being and future of the families and children of prisoners. A detailed report of the work and purpose of this group in Brians 2 Prison in Catalonia can be found here and you can also watch the video of their project on Art, Family and Confinement. 

Stop motion La fuerza is an animation project of the Parental Responsibility Group that was held at the prison of Brians 2 during the summer of 2020. The objective was to send messages of love to the children of inmates, at a critical moment of the pandemic. This kind of animation allowed to create a different and magical scenario, where imprisoned parents could jump, fly and play while they were sending a message to their children. In this way, parents could become wizards and express their feelings in a direct and playful language.