Dear EuroPris Members, dear colleagues,
Let me wish you all a very peaceful, mindful and happy New Year! This year is a special year for EuroPris as it is our first anniversary - it is the 5th year that our organisation is operational and active for European Prison Services.
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Enis Yavuz YILDIRIM, Director General of the Prisons and Detention Houses, Turkey
EuroPris: How many Prison establishments do you oversee?
Enis Yavuz YILDIRIM: 137 probation directorates and 361 prisons throughout Turkey are active under the General Directorate of Prisons and Detention Houses.
How many prisoners are in prison at the moment in Turkey?
As of 8 January 2016, there are in total 179.686 detainees/convicts in our prisons, there are 273.401 obligators (who are under probation measure).
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Staff Training Workshop
The use of e-learning for staff training was the topic of workshop organized jointly by EuroPris and CEP and hosted by the Irish Probation and Prison Service in Dublin on 10 and 11 December. The workshop presented a mixture of presentation from experienced e-learning providers to the ones that just took the first steps with e-learning. In combination with a market place where the e-learning programs could be seen and 'touched' the workshop provided for useful guidance for the participants. Download here notes and presentations.
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Council of Europe Penological Council
EuroPris participated at the Council of Europe Penological Council plenary meeting from 17-19 November 2015 in Strasbourg. At this meeting the draft guidelines for prison and probation services regarding radicalization and violent extremism were finalized for submission to the CDPC. The Committee of Ministers will discuss the approval of these guidelines on 10th February. Download here the draft and meeting notes.
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CEP Directors General Conference
From 25-27 November the 6th CEP Directors General meeting took place at the premises of the Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice in The Hague. EuroPris participated at the first day of the event at which the issue of Foreign National Prisoners and the implementation of the EU Framework Decisions were discussed. For further information please see CEP website.
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Criminal Justice Platform International Seminar
Criminal Justice Platform organised an International Seminar on the implementation of the Framework Decisions 2008/909/JHA, 2008/947/JHA and 2009/829/JHA on 3 December 2015 in Brussels, Belgium. During the seminar CJPE also gave an overview of their work in 2015 and planning for 2016.
The audience included participants from permanent representations, NGOs and officials from the European Commission and Parliament. The summary notes of the seminar can be downloaded here.
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UNODC
The UNODC has started work on a Handbook on the Management of Violent Extremist Prisoners and the Prevention of Radicalisation to Violence in Prisons. A scoping document of the handbook was discussed at a first expert meeting in Vienna from 16-18 December. EuroPris was invited to participate at this meeting. For the handbook UNODC is looking for case studies from the Prison Services around the world. Short descriptions of good practices can be mailed until 31st January to [email protected]/[email protected]. The scoping document can be obtained by writing to [email protected].
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10th Anniversary Turkish Probation Service
The Turkish General Directorate of Prisons and Detention Houses (since 2015 a member of EuroPris) celebrated the 10th Anniversary of the Probation Service with a Symposium that was held from 8-10 December in Istanbul. Board member of EuroPris, Zivile Mikenaite, participated on behalf of EuroPris with an opening address about the work of EuroPris. Read more.
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Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN)
The Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN) has developed into an EU-wide network of over 2000 practitioners engaged to prevent and counter radicalisation. As of the 1st of October 2015 the RAN will be complemented by the RAN Centre of Excellence (CoE). The RAN CoE acts as a hub in connecting, developing and disseminating expertise. Member States (MSs) may already have profited from the RAN and RAN Support to MS delivered In 2014. The RAN Centre of Excellence will continue this support, at MSs request, through the following Commission offers: deployments of RAN advisory teams; workshops on topical issues; RAN DNA train-the-trainers course; support on setting up national groups. For more information on how to obtain this support please see RAN Leaflet.
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On behalf of the International Office of the Dutch Probation Service the Avans university of applied sciences conducted a research on the practice and legitimisation of its work with Dutch citizens in foreign prisons. Apart from the assistance of Dutch citizens imprisoned abroad, the International Office has two other main tasks: the International desk performs executive, coordinating and advisory activities for the transfer of criminal sentences between the Netherlands and the other EU Member States, and thirdly international cooperation in the field of social rehabilitation. Prisoners abroad are often confronted with language and cultural barriers, restrictions in communication with the outside world (relatives and friends) and ignorance of the local criminal (procedural) law. A summary of the research can be downloaded here.
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Knowledge Management System
This system allows National Prison Administrations to contact EuroPris with a query or request for information. Respondees will have access to all responses and can collate the information as applicable to them. In 2015 EuroPris has relayed 27 questions to the European National Prison Agencies with an average response of 14 countries on each question. Click here to see the list of queries.
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Radicalisation in Prison Expert Group Meeting
The first Meeting of the EuroPris Radicalisation Expert Group took place on 24 & 25 November 2015 in Vienna, Austria. The meeting was attended by representatives from 9 European National Agencies (Austria, Germany, Norway, Catalonia, Northern Ireland, Estonia, Bulgaria, and Turkey). During the meeting, the experts shared details on their current work, programs they have going or are developing and challenges that they face. The experts decided on the next steps of the Expert Group, further exploring the topics of Risk assessment tools, Identification of radicalised offenders and Chaplaincy.
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ICT in Prisons Expert Group Meeting
The 4th Meeting of the EuroPris ICT in Prisons Expert Group took place on 14 & 15 December 2015 in Malmo, Sweden. The group was attended by representatives from 8 European National Agencies (Ireland, Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, Croatia, Sweden, Austria, Romania). During the meeting, the experts shared the ICT projects their jurisdictions was developing and decided to develop papers on 3 topics: Telemedicine, Connecting the inmate to the digital world, Looking into the future and Cloud and data protection and internet. The group also developed a draft agenda for the EuroPris ICT in Prisons Workshop which will take place on 5-6 April 2016 in Lisbon, Portugal.
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Academy of European Law
The Academy of European Law (ERA) has started at the end of 2015 a new project on detention conditions and alternatives to detention, with EuroPris as an Associate Partner. The project consists of a series of 5 seminars taking place in Strasbourg, Madrid, Trier and Bucharest. Read here further information about the project.
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STEPS2 Resettlement Final Conference
STEPS 2 are holding the final conference in Bucharest, Romania on Thursday 4th and Friday 5th February 2016. At the conference, findings and products that have been developed through the project will be presented. There are still a few, limited places available. If you are interested in attending. Read more here or visit the STEPS2 website . The next EuroPris newsletter will contain a summary of the conference.
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Prisons of the Future
After the last working session of the project took place from 19-20 November 2015 in Zaandam, Netherlands the next and final step in the project is the final conference of the proejct on 3-4 March 2016 in The Hague. This final conference will be a working conference and the project partners want to discuss with the participants their visions about the future of corrections. If you are interested to join the conference please read this announcement.
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IDECOM
As part of the dissemination and validation of the study " Staff Training Need Analysis" developed in the Project "Innovation, Development and Communications for a Better Education in Prison System" , 2 seminars were organised by the Project Partners, in Ankara, Turkey and in Chisinau, Moldova.
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News
England and Wales: Government To Bolster Prison Mobile Blocking Tech [Read article]Nearly 5,000 sex offenders now being monitored in Scotland [Read article]England and Wales: Prisons to introduce tests for legal highs in bid to reduce violence [Read article]Northern Ireland: Permission to use body scanners sought by prison service in smuggling crackdown [Read article]Greece: Officials pledge better conditions at prison clinics [Read article]
Digital TV for 11,000 prisoners in Belgium [Read article]
Inmates making 30 complaints a day about conditions in Northern Ireland prisons [Read article] Vladimir Putin signs law allowing Russia to ignore international human rights rulings [Read article]Northern Ireland: Specialist Offender Management Partnership takes to Twitter [Read article]Romania's anticorruption prosecutors start investigation on "prison literature" [Read article]Finland: Dangerous prisoners under 2-year surveillance after release [Read article]Prison Related Articles CPT publishes report on Georgia together with the response of the Georgian Government [Read reports]
The paradox of control: An ethnographic analysis of opiate maintenance treatment in a Norwegian prison [Read article] Better at Home than in Prison ? The Effects of Electronic Monitoring on Recidivism in France [Read study]Romania's drama festival to rehabilitate prison inmates [Read article]Belfast coffee shop brewing up brighter future for young ex-offenders going straight [Read article]
The Radicalisation of Prison Inmates: A Review of the Literature on Recruitment, Religion and Prisoner Vulnerability [Read article]Is Violent Radicalisation Associated with Poverty, Migration, Poor Self-Reported Health and Common Mental Disorders? [Read study]Inmates making 30 complaints a day about conditions in Northern Ireland prisonsn Associated with Poverty, Migration, Poor Self-Reported Health and Common Mental Disorders? [Read article]Baking Bad: Scotland's newest artisan bakers - run by inmates in a high security prison [Read article]Theater in Italian prisons plays important role in reforming convicts [Read article]Scotland: Meditation and martial arts for Inverness inmates [Read article]
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Offender Digital Services: Views on Cyber Security and the Government Digitalisation challenge in Finland
by Tuuli Siiskonen,
Criminal Sanctions Agency Finland , ICT in Prisons Expert Group Member
The government of Prime Minister Juha Sipilä in Finland has issued an assignment to all government agencies to participate in the Digitalization challenge 2015. "Digitalisation is about reforming the ways of working, digitalising internal processes and providing electronic services. It is a new way of understanding how information technology can be used to change one's own way of action, even radically. User orientation is essential for digitalisation
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STEPS2 Resettlement Final Conference
4-5 February 2016, Bucharest, Romania
ERA Seminar on improving conditions related to detention
25-26 February 2016, Strasbourg, France
Prisons of the Future Final Conference
2-4 March 2016, the Hague, Netherlands
COPE Annual Conference
20 May 2016, Zagreb, Croatia
Criminal Justice Platform Workshop on Radicalisation 26 April 2016, Barcelona, Spain
EuroPris Annual General Meeting and Conference
13 June 2016, Netherlands
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