Lost your Password?
Click Here
Don't have an account?
Register Here
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.
Want to ask a question? Please read our guidance information found here: Submitting a KMS Question
← Back Search KMSThis content is only available to registered members of EuroPris.
Introduction: These questions are part of the research conducted by Penal Reform International (PRI) into of the current situation and issues related to Roma[1] people’s access and experience of non-custodial sanctions and measures (“alternatives to imprisonment”) in Europe. The research is part of an EU-funded project Promoting non-discriminatory alternatives to imprisonment in Europe. To find out more about the work PRI is doing in Europe, please visit the regional site here. As the research seeks to build up a picture of current challenges, needs and good practices in order to develop an agenda for change, the following questions are intended to supplement data gathered from probation experts by providing insights from the perspective of Prison Services. The research team would be grateful if you can spare a little time to share your knowledge of your country’s situation to support an improved understanding of the topic. [1] The term ‘Roma’, deriving from the Romani word for a man/person, is the traditional appellation for some, mainly Romani speaking groups. In common with the EU institutions, we use the term ‘Roma’ as an umbrella term including groups of people who share more or less similar cultural characteristics, such as the Roma, Sinti, Travellers, Ashkali, Manush, Jenische, Kaldaresh and Kalé.
The number of Roma people is not specific established in the Prison Service. Nevertheless, we are starting to collect some related data when entering a prison.
What steps, if any, are taken by the service to address the needs of Roma people in the criminal justice system and to reduce the possible overrepresentation of Roma people in the prison system?Criminal justice system operates independent from the Prison one. From a penitentiary perspective, Roma people should be treated equally as other inmates. However, in the same way as with other communities, their specific needs are taken into account in the daily performance of the Prison service.
Yes there is. In Estonian prison, there are 31 Roman people which makes 1.5% of all prison population. In Estonia, the average Romani percentage is 0.1% from the entire population. From 31 prisoners, only 12 have Estonian citizenship, others have Latvian or Russian citizenship. We dont feel that Roma people are overrepresented in our prison system.
What steps, if any, are taken by the service to address the needs of Roma people in the criminal justice system and to reduce the possible overrepresentation of Roma people in the prison system?We havent been taken any special steps for Roma people. Our services are aimed at reducing overall crime regardless of nationality.
This content is only available to registered members of EuroPris.
This content is only available to registered members of EuroPris.
The Latvian Prison Administration does not collect data on the nationality of prisoners, so the Court Decision Enforcement Department cannot provide information on the number of Roma prisoners in Latvian prisons. Similarly, the Resocialization Department of the Penitentiary Institutions does not have statistical data on the number of Roma prisoners in prisons. Resocialization Department of the Penitentiary Institutions does not take separate measures to address the rights of Roma prisoners in the criminal justice system and reduce the possible overrepresentation of Roma in prisons, as there is no overrepresentation of Roma people in the penitentiary institutions of Latvia.
What steps, if any, are taken by the service to address the needs of Roma people in the criminal justice system and to reduce the possible overrepresentation of Roma people in the prison system?N/A
This content is only available to registered members of EuroPris.
b) The Personal Data Protection Act prohibits the processing of special categories of personal data. Special categories of personal data include, but are not limited to, data revealing ethnic origin. Although the Personal Data Protection Act provides exceptions to this principle (e.g. public interest defined in a special regulation), the current legislation regulating the conditions of pre-trial detention and prison sentence does not include this exception for monitoring the structure of the prison population. c) It is not possible to give a clear answer to this question.
What steps, if any, are taken by the service to address the needs of Roma people in the criminal justice system and to reduce the possible overrepresentation of Roma people in the prison system?The activities of the Corps of Prison and Court Guard in this area can be divided into: - activities aimed exclusively at Roma - selected information leaflets and brochures are translated into the Roma language; - activities aimed at risk groups of inmates from segregated communities (socially excluded communities of inhabitants who live for a long time in a spatially isolated locality, whilst the typical and characteristic feature of such a community is the so-called generational poverty) - standardised resocialisation and educational programme is targeted at the prevention of the occurrence of social pathology and its selected aspects (domestic violence, substance addictions, non-substance addictions, prostitution, human trafficking, sects, usury, etc.).
Statistics on ethnicity are illegal in Finland, so the exact number of Roma is therefore unknown. There are many Roma in prisons, but the number of Roma there is only estimated information in prisons. It is estimated that there are around 200 Roma people every day.
What steps, if any, are taken by the service to address the needs of Roma people in the criminal justice system and to reduce the possible overrepresentation of Roma people in the prison system?Prisons cannot reduce the number of Roma. Prisons cooperate a lot with various Roma organizations. For example, Roma women have their own group activities. A person of Roma background works in a couple of prisons.
No, b). If there is no data, why is this ? We make registrations nationvise. We are aware of the Roma pepole culture and their situation internationally, but concerning registration and followup tasks in the correctional service we have no special tasks in the institutions. We have no indications that Roma people are overrepresented in the prison system. The number of individuals from this cultural background are all in all quite small in our country.
What steps, if any, are taken by the service to address the needs of Roma people in the criminal justice system and to reduce the possible overrepresentation of Roma people in the prison system?Norwegian and Romanian correctional services are cooperating in the Norway Grants program. One of the main tasks in this broad set of partneraship is to establish a structure for research/studies to search for vounarable groups, in particular the Roma people.
This content is only available to registered members of EuroPris.
No a). If yes, are Roma people overrepresented in the system when compared to the proportion of the general public they make up? / b). If there is no data, why is this ? As Roma people is not a well-defined group and consists of different nationalities, the Belgian Prison Service does not have data on the number of Roma people. There is also no registration in the national prison database based on the ethnicity of individuals. Consequently, no data can be provided. c). If no, even without formal data, based on your experience and available information, do you think Roma people are overrepresented in the prison system? The Belgian Prison Service does not consider it appropriate nor desirable to make unsubstantiated statements about possible overrepresentation nor about possible causes of (over)representation of a certain ethnic group (if that were to be the case). In addition, this is not a matter solely of the prison service. It goes far beyond that and touches upon fundamental aspects of the entire criminal justice policy (analysis of the crimes to which priority is given regarding detection and prosecution, which sentences are pronounced, etc.).
What steps, if any, are taken by the service to address the needs of Roma people in the criminal justice system and to reduce the possible overrepresentation of Roma people in the prison system?As applies for the previous question, this question regarding the needs of Roma people in the criminal justice system and there possible overrepresentation in prisons also goes far beyond just the phase of execution of custodial sentences. As a prison service, we cannot make any meaningful statements about this.