Registration is still open to the upcoming workshop on Juveniles and Young Adult Offenders, taking place online on 1-2 December. During the two half-day sessions, European experts will be sharing their perspectives on issues like treatment programs for young adult offenders, small scale detention facilities, psychosocial maturity, (digital) education and also include an interview with a young ex-offender. The workshop is only open for European public sector representatives, academics and NGOs.

For registration, please visit our website.

The 3rd CRS conference jointly organized by EuroPris, ICPA and CEP and which was re-scheduled for March 2021, has now been cancelled due to the pandemic situation. Consideration is being given to bringing an online accessible session next year. The CRS has contributed significantly in the past in bridging the researcher/practitioner gap, and we therefore plan to continue with this gathering when travel restrictions are lifted.

For further updates, click here to view the events page.

On 9 November, EuroPris members met online at the 9th Annual General Meeting. At the meeting, the Board presented the report, budgets and plans for the period 2019-2021, as well as the new Strategic Plan 2021-2024. All documents were unanimously adopted. As a result of the Board elections, we proudly announce and welcome the new EuroPris Board members: Phil Copple (England and Wales), Gerard Bakker (Netherlands) and Jan-Erik Sandlie (Norway).

Since 1st November, Tatjana Laius left EuroPris and as her replacement, Anton Arabadzhiev joined the team. Anton comes from Bulgaria, and lives in the Netherlands for nearly 11 years. He studied International Communication Management at the Hague University and has accumulated a rich experience in the events industry throughout his professional career. Welcome Anton!

Contact Anton via this email address: [email protected].

At the online ICT Workshop on 29 and 30 September participated about 100 European experts. Presentations were given on intelligent prisons, video linking, data driven decision making, digital services for inmates, impact of Covid-19 on the use of technology and more. Presentations and recordings are now available on the EuroPris website.

The annual EuroPris FD909 meeting was held on 23 September 2020. The event was attended by experts from 16 Member States as well as representatives from the European Judicial Network (EJN), Maastricht University and EuroPris.

Discussions around COVID-19 and specifically, the impact the pandemic has had on arranging surrenders under European Arrest Warrants and managing the expectations of prisoners. There was a group discussion whether Member States (MS) inform victims of crime about the transfer of a prisoner, how MS determine whether a prisoner has enough social ties and whether MS consider prison conditions of other MS before sending a transfer application (certificate).

Read full article under Expert Group Meeting 2020.

At the second EuroPris campfire session "Building International Communities Online" on 21 October, a presentation was given by Steve McGuigan and Chris Holmes on Insights Online Platform in HMPPS. The openly accessible platform provides a range of virtual events, videos and blog articles and aims to bring people together from across the Criminal Justice System to learn, share, connect about their innovative work.

On 25 and 26 November 2020, the Swiss Centre of Expertise in Prison and Probation (SCEPP), is organizing the third Forum on Detention and Probation online. The topic of the Forum is: Corrections in the light of digital transformation – are we ready?

www.skjv.ch/en/forum/Forum-on-detention-and-probation-2020.

Academy of European Law is organising an online conference on 30 November & 1 December 2020 on the topic "The European Prison Rules as a Standard Setter for European Prison Conditions". The conference will focus on the European Prison Rules, the role of the NPMs and good practices in prison management in relation to foreign national prisoners, juveniles and mental health as well as alternatives to detention. 

For more information on the event, please click here.

The Council for Penological Co-operation Working Group (PC-CP WG) agreed at their 8-10 September meeting to a follow-up statement on COVID-19. In the statement, they considered the information and data collected from prison and probation services over the past months, and drew attention to some conclusions, key principles and recommendations in order to assist in dealing with the longer-term impact of this and similar situations in the future.

The EPTA Annual Conference took place online 28-29 September for EPTA members, and potential members that are from the European penitentiary staff training academy. The two-half day sessions focused on remote education, prison staff training during COVID-19, innovative training methods and much more.

To view presentations from the conference, please click here.