Overcrowding is an increasingly widespread and common problem in Europe in places of detention. In many countries, it is a very serious concern, impacting possibilities for rehabilitation and reintegration. The topic of this webinar will be about short-, medium- and long-term solutions to manage overcrowding by increasing prison capacity. The focus of this webinar will be on logistics and infrastructure, policy change, and legislative reform. Are you a prison professional involved in capacity building and managing overcrowding in a European country? Register and join us online on 29 September 2022.

How can time in prison be used constructively to safeguard the transition to society? What specific needs must be addressed? The handover from prison to probation/social services starts on the first day of imprisonment. Later inmates should be released into a milieu that minimises opportunities for crime with support from probation services and sometimes cooperation with the police, municipalities, or job agencies. In November, EuroPris and CEP are organising a workshop in Bucharest, Romania, to increase awareness of the need for interagency cooperation and to find solutions supporting this agenda. This workshop will focus on solutions for specific groups, such as persons with mental disorders, foreign nationals, and the Roma community. If you are interested in presenting on this topic, please follow the instructions on the event page below. The deadline for submitting papers is on 9 September.

"We are all EuroPris" Gustav Tallving, Executive Director of EuroPris opened his speech with this slogan to EuroPris members, the Director Generals, on 20 June in Seville. He highlighted that, as a network organisation, it relies on the willingness of the members to be actively engaged in the work of the organisation as experts, while EuroPris provides the platform for exchanging their knowledge and professional experiences. During AGM there were many highlights. Members voted on first Staff Wellbeing in Prisons and second Prison Security, as new topics for expert groups. Two new members of EuroPris were welcomed, the Basque country and Albania. As a result of the Board elections, Ioana Morar, from Romania was proudly welcomed to the EuroPris Board. The morning session ended with Caron McCaffrey making a call to all the EuroPris members for support and solidarity for Ukraine.

"Knowledge is best shared and generated together. It is not just about information." Victoria Knight, Associate Professor at De Montfort University shared her reflections on the ICT Workshop that took place on 5-6 April 2022 in Istanbul, Turkey. "Our meeting of 78 delegates from 22 different European jurisdictions brought together those that deliver, design, support, and inquire about the digital evolution that is taking place in our prisons not only across Europe but also beyond. Our meeting in Istanbul provided a much-needed opportunity to fully immerse ourselves within the digital enterprise of our prisons" Click below to read the full report.

Global Prison Trends 2022 is Penal Reform International’s annual flagship report, published with the Thailand Institute of Justice, identifying the key trends and challenges in prison systems worldwide. Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, despite repeated calls to reduce prison populations since the onset of the crisis, the global prison population has reached an all-time high. Global Prison Trends 2022 exposes that, rather than a decrease in prison numbers, many governments are instead increasing prison capacity, with a significant expansion in the global prison estate in the past year. For the german-speaking audience, the Executive summary and infographics are also available in German.

In a multi-agency approach, experts will highlight specific security-relevant settings and situations and put them up for discussion at the upcoming Forum in Switzerland. Processes, organisations, and situations in custody as well as in the field of community sanctions will be addressed. The keynote speakers will explore changes in the perceptions of security thereby considering the tensions existing between security as one among other principles to be observed when enforcing penal sanctions, in particular the legal mandate of resettlement. The Forum on Detention and Probation 2022, will be taking place on the 23-24 November 2022 at the Loewenberg Centre in Murten, Switzerland. Please note that the event will be held mainly in French and German.

Following the hybrid conference “Initial training of justice professionals serving the rule of law” held on 22-23 February 2022 in Bordeaux, a conference report has been published. In the conference report, you will find an executive summary, a recap of all the sessions of the conference and the follow-up action points for training providers concluded during the workshop sessions.