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Welcome to the EuroPris Knowledge Management System. The table below shows questions and responses from European National Agencies. Select a question for more information or use the filters on the left to narrow down questions based on Agency or Category.
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Introduction: The questions relate to the current IT facilities in place for booking visits both family and professional visitors to prisoners in your jurisdiction. Currently the Irish Prison Service are proposing an upgrade to their current System and would like some information from colleagues in Europe that are using to record and manage booking visits into prisons.
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Visits to NIPS Prisons are currently booked and recorded through our Prison Record Information System (PRISM) which is managed by an in-house team with external technical support.
Do visitors {both family and professional visitors to prisoners} who intend visiting prisoners in your jurisdiction book by (i) Phone (ii) on-line (iii) in person, or are all these options available to them?The primary method of booking a visit is via the phone.
Are you using bio-metric technology to identify visitors who have booked a visit once they are registered on your IT system?Yes, biometrics are used to identify all visitors, once verified and registered, as well as prisoners.
Are you relying on prisoners to provide the information of prospective visitors they might have visit them while in custody?Prisoners are supplied with an electronically generated booking reference number which they pass on to their visitor; the visitor then provides the booking reference number when making the booking. New visitors are required to provide official documentation to verify their identity as part of the registration process.
If you have modernised your Visitor Booking system within the last few years, do you believe it has made a positive impact managing this area for Prison Staff, Prisoners and Visitors who regularly visit your prisons?There is no electronic visit booking system in Finnish prisons.
Do visitors {both family and professional visitors to prisoners} who intend visiting prisoners in your jurisdiction book by (i) Phone (ii) on-line (iii) in person, or are all these options available to them?-
Are you using bio-metric technology to identify visitors who have booked a visit once they are registered on your IT system?-
Are you relying on prisoners to provide the information of prospective visitors they might have visit them while in custody?-
If you have modernised your Visitor Booking system within the last few years, do you believe it has made a positive impact managing this area for Prison Staff, Prisoners and Visitors who regularly visit your prisons?-
Not applicable.
Do visitors {both family and professional visitors to prisoners} who intend visiting prisoners in your jurisdiction book by (i) Phone (ii) on-line (iii) in person, or are all these options available to them?Visitors,in most instances,may book by phone. Each prisoner has a list of visitors that may come to visit them. If a name is not on that list an individual will not be allowed a visit. Each prison operates bookings differently dependent on facilities. In some prisons the prisoner will book the visit and the individual will be notified, in others the individual will be able to phone and book.
Are you using bio-metric technology to identify visitors who have booked a visit once they are registered on your IT system?No. To visit a prison an individual will normally need two forms of identification, one of which must be photo ID such as passport and the other should be proof of address such as a utility bill or benefit book. SPS security when visiting a prison is similar to what you would expect at an airport. While security measures vary at different prisons dependent on the facilities, generally speaking an individual will be asked to place belongings in a locker and proceed through a metal detector. There may also be ION scanners in place or dogs present.
Are you relying on prisoners to provide the information of prospective visitors they might have visit them while in custody?As Q2.
If you have modernised your Visitor Booking system within the last few years, do you believe it has made a positive impact managing this area for Prison Staff, Prisoners and Visitors who regularly visit your prisons?Not applicable.
No
Do visitors {both family and professional visitors to prisoners} who intend visiting prisoners in your jurisdiction book by (i) Phone (ii) on-line (iii) in person, or are all these options available to them?No
Are you using bio-metric technology to identify visitors who have booked a visit once they are registered on your IT system?No
Are you relying on prisoners to provide the information of prospective visitors they might have visit them while in custody?No
If you have modernised your Visitor Booking system within the last few years, do you believe it has made a positive impact managing this area for Prison Staff, Prisoners and Visitors who regularly visit your prisons?No
In Norway there is no centralized visit booking system. The prisons have found local solutions for this, most of them based upon the different computer systems which are common available.
Do visitors {both family and professional visitors to prisoners} who intend visiting prisoners in your jurisdiction book by (i) Phone (ii) on-line (iii) in person, or are all these options available to them?-
Are you using bio-metric technology to identify visitors who have booked a visit once they are registered on your IT system?-
Are you relying on prisoners to provide the information of prospective visitors they might have visit them while in custody?-
If you have modernised your Visitor Booking system within the last few years, do you believe it has made a positive impact managing this area for Prison Staff, Prisoners and Visitors who regularly visit your prisons?-
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BASIS-Web (accounting and billing system in prisons) is a transnational project that currently includes 13 German states and Luxembourg. The Ministry of Justice of North Rhine-Westphalia coordinates the further development of the solution. More than 18.000 employees in the prisons benefit from the new specialized procedure of the company MATERNA GmbH
Do visitors {both family and professional visitors to prisoners} who intend visiting prisoners in your jurisdiction book by (i) Phone (ii) on-line (iii) in person, or are all these options available to them?Visitors who intend visiting prisoners can book by phone and in person.
Are you using bio-metric technology to identify visitors who have booked a visit once they are registered on your IT system?No.
Are you relying on prisoners to provide the information of prospective visitors they might have visit them while in custody?We rely on prisoners to provide the information of prospective visitors. In some cases we also rely on family members to get the informations.
If you have modernised your Visitor Booking system within the last few years, do you believe it has made a positive impact managing this area for Prison Staff, Prisoners and Visitors who regularly visit your prisons?There are no modifications noticeable.
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We do not operate the system for booking the visits of imprisoned persons.
Do visitors {both family and professional visitors to prisoners} who intend visiting prisoners in your jurisdiction book by (i) Phone (ii) on-line (iii) in person, or are all these options available to them?The system for visits of imprisoned persons is in the Slovak Republic based on the right of imprisoned person to invite a close (or other designed) person to the visit. That means, among others that the date and time of the visit is not booked independently by the visitors but the date and time of the visit of imprisoned person is determined by the Prison Governor or the special prison staff responsible for treatment (Correctional Treatment Specialist) designated by the Prison Governor, on the basis of the request of imprisoned person and in accordance with the schedule of the visits. After determining the date and time of the visit, the imprisoned person shall send filled invitation to the visit (with determined date and time) to person/ persons that he/she wants to receive. The visit is executed in the time specified in the invitation to visit, if the visitor submits valid invitation to the prison officers of the Corps of Prison and Court Guard no later than 15 minutes before specified start of the visit that is stated in the invitation. In justified reasons, the Prison Governor may allow alternative date of the visit. In the Information System of Pre-trial Detention and Prison Sentence Execution, we record only the evidence of the visits.
Are you using bio-metric technology to identify visitors who have booked a visit once they are registered on your IT system?No, the visitor is proven by the invitation to the visit and ID card.
Are you relying on prisoners to provide the information of prospective visitors they might have visit them while in custody?The imprisoned person indicates the information about invited persons (name, surname, date of birth and relationship to imprisoned person) in request for determination of the date of the execution of the visit.
If you have modernised your Visitor Booking system within the last few years, do you believe it has made a positive impact managing this area for Prison Staff, Prisoners and Visitors who regularly visit your prisons?See reply no. 1.
We don't have an electronic visit booking system
Do visitors {both family and professional visitors to prisoners} who intend visiting prisoners in your jurisdiction book by (i) Phone (ii) on-line (iii) in person, or are all these options available to them?Visits may be booked by phone or in person at the establishment
Are you using bio-metric technology to identify visitors who have booked a visit once they are registered on your IT system?No
Are you relying on prisoners to provide the information of prospective visitors they might have visit them while in custody?Yes
If you have modernised your Visitor Booking system within the last few years, do you believe it has made a positive impact managing this area for Prison Staff, Prisoners and Visitors who regularly visit your prisons?system wasn't modernized, only new procedure for visit booking was introduced
Not
Do visitors {both family and professional visitors to prisoners} who intend visiting prisoners in your jurisdiction book by (i) Phone (ii) on-line (iii) in person, or are all these options available to them?There are no visit reservations, permits are issued by the court for visits of detainees, while for the visit of prisoners is decided by the criminal authority menager or person authorized by him.
Are you using bio-metric technology to identify visitors who have booked a visit once they are registered on your IT system?Not
Are you relying on prisoners to provide the information of prospective visitors they might have visit them while in custody?We use the data on visitors at our disposal and those collected under inter-departmental co-operation (Ministry of Internal Affairs)
If you have modernised your Visitor Booking system within the last few years, do you believe it has made a positive impact managing this area for Prison Staff, Prisoners and Visitors who regularly visit your prisons?In recent years we have not upgraded the visitor reservation system.
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The system for booking visits to inmates of their family members, cohabitants and third persons is managed both in paper (by dedicated books) and by computer, through an internal software that can vary from prison to prison
Do visitors {both family and professional visitors to prisoners} who intend visiting prisoners in your jurisdiction book by (i) Phone (ii) on-line (iii) in person, or are all these options available to them?Currently, in Italian prisons, family members, cohabitants or third parties, lawyers, etc. can book visits and interviews with prisoners on-line, by telephone and in person
Are you using bio-metric technology to identify visitors who have booked a visit once they are registered on your IT system?Biometric technology is used only in a few prisons to identify visitors authorized to visits and interviews
Are you relying on prisoners to provide the information of prospective visitors they might have visit them while in custody?The dedicated prison offices (Registration Office, Unit for Visits, etc.) acquire information on visitors (family members, cohabitants or third parties, lawyers, etc.), assessing the documents requested from inmates by the prison Governor (family status certificates, personal data certificates, self-certifications) before the formal visit authorization. In case of subjects who are foreign nationals, not coming from the EU, it is necessary to have recourse to consular authorities or to Embassies of their State of origin. Where necessary, information is requested also from local social services and law enforcement agencies.
If you have modernised your Visitor Booking system within the last few years, do you believe it has made a positive impact managing this area for Prison Staff, Prisoners and Visitors who regularly visit your prisons?The implementation of the visits system with family members or third persons, which has been extended also to holidays and to afternoons, allows the improvement of the relations of inmates with the outside world, ensuring the maintaining of family links, which is one of the pillars of the rehabilitation treatment in our Country.