Dear EuroPris members,

I would like to thank you for your continued support and your active engagement in Europris activities during 2022. Through the continued sharing of experiences and expertise in addressing issues facing our prison services, we can collectively learn and improve how we respond to similar issues. We will continue to strengthen on our mission this year through cooperation and using the networking opportunities to their full potential.

The EuroPris secretariat continues to unite the organisation, ensuring it is both supportive and relevant for its members. A number of important documents have been drafted in 2022 such as the new articles of association, a communication strategy, and a code of conduct for members, and roles and responsibilities for EuroPris liaisons. These documents will assist in strengthening governance and in providing guidance and transparency on EuroPris functions.

In 2023 we will establish two new expert groups to examine security and staff-wellbeing. We also look forward to learning from the working group on Covid who will present their results. There are numerous activities that are in the planning stages for 2023, in this newsletter edition, you can read about some of the upcoming events which we hope will be of interest to your service. We look forward to meeting members online, in person, and via different means of communication.

I wish you a positive and successful year and I am looking forward to working with you further on advancing European prison practice that will ultimately make Europe a safer place.

Sincerely,

Caron McCaffrey

If all pre-trial detainees were released, most European countries would solve their overcrowding problem. Can prison services do more to fulfill the rights of pre-trial detainees? Are there solutions already in place which can be shared across Europe? These questions will be discussed in a webinar organised by EuroPris and Penal Reform International taking place on 14 February, 14:00-16:00 CET. Click on the link below to view the agenda and registration. 

What constitutes good or effective reintegration? What can we learn from research and practice in this regard? Corrections are not only about the time spent in prison. Since most of the people that we incarcerate are released and returned back to their communities at some point, a significant task of criminal justice agencies is also to focus on this eventual ‘return’. For this symposium, we welcome both evidence-based and practice-informed discussions of how meaningful re/integration can be achieved. EuroPris and ICPA, in collaboration with the Portuguese Reintegration and Prison Service (DGRSP) are organising on 27-30 March 2023 in Porto, Portugal the Correctional Research Symposium (CRS) on Rehabilitating Reintegration: Research and Reflections on What Works. Click on the link below to view the agenda and register.

This year the German Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection will host the EuroPris Annual General Meeting and Conference. The 35 EuroPris members are invited to meet on 5 June in Berlin, Germany. As in previous years, the EuroPris event precedes the Council of Europe Conference CDPPS on 6-7 June. An official invitation will be sent to EuroPris members in March. The announcement of the EuroPris Prison Achievement Award winner will take place at the AGM. The awarded prison will be invited to present their work and receive the Prison Achievement Award. 

We are happy to announce that prison practitioners from the Council of Europe area are welcome to nominate their work and submit their developments. The deadline for submitting an application is on 31 March 2023. The final results will be announced at the AGM on 5 June 2023 in Berlin to the European heads of prison services. To read more details on how to submit an application please visit the event page by clicking on the link below. 

The 5th edition of the International Criminal Justice Summer Course is dedicated to ‘Mental health issues in criminal justice’. Mental health problems are more prevalent among offenders than in the average population, but assessment and efficient responses and support in prison, during probation, and in restorative justice remain a field to be further developed. Characteristics of mental health issues, dealing with substance use, suicide prevention, trauma-informed practices, as well as, staff mental well-being are all topics relevant to this course. It will be a unique international opportunity to meet professionals from different disciplines of the criminal justice field (prison, probation, and restorative justice). The course will take place in Barcelona, at the Centre for Legal Studies and Specialised Training on 4-7 July. More information will be provided soon.

I believe in treatment & rehabilitation, and I aspired to affect ground-breaking change, in close collaboration with my colleagues. In my view, prison activities must always be carried out in accordance with the rule of law, in compliance with international standards, while also fostering humanitarian approaches, all for the greater good. To that end, I have been actively involved in building capacity and contributing to the development of the national legal framework (e.g. individual sentence planning, risk and needs assessment, mental health care), policies, programs, guidelines, and procedures. I contributed to a number of innovative projects, relevant not only from the intra-institutional perspective, but also from the inter-institutional cooperation point of view. 

In collaboration with Justice Reform Initiative and Penal Reform International, EuroPris hosted a webinar on 1 December 2022, to address the use of incarceration as a measure to solve problems often caused by social inequalities, including limited access to welfare services such as education and drug treatment. The recordings and presentations of the webinar are now available on the event page below.

In December 2022, the European Commission adopted a Recommendation on the procedural rights of suspects and accused persons subject to pre-trial detention and on material detention conditions, following a request by the EU Ministers to propose non-legislative measures to improve detention conditions. It lays down minimum standards measures, a number of which are already presented in different instruments, such as using pre-trial detention as a measure of last resort and introducing periodic reviews where its use is justified; establishing minimum standards for cell sizes, outdoors time and nutrition and healthcare conditions; as well as initiatives with a view to reintegration and social rehabilitation.

RAN Practitioners is organising a virtual study visit to the Netherlands on the Multi-Agency Approach to Rehabilitation of Radicalised Detainees (MAR) on 22 and 23 February 2023, 09.00 - 12.30 CET. The study visit aims to create the opportunity for European practitioners to learn from their Dutch colleagues about their experience with the programme that started operating in 2021. As many EU MSs are currently working with VETOs and radicalised detainees in custodial settings, continued exchange about the implementation of processes and structures to identify radicalisation in prison and how to work multi-professionally in doing so, is key. The visit will allow practitioners to engage with good practices and lessons learned from the Dutch case study in order to discuss applicability in their own work and national contexts. Click on the link below to read about how to register. The registration deadline is on 3 February.