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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 Governor Accountability Project aims to investigate and clarify the current position on what Prison Governors are responsible for and how they are held to account for delivering. We are reviewing the situation in the men’s, women’s and youth prison estate. We are aiming to understand over what areas of prison delivery Governors(or their equivalent) have autonomy to determine the best way to deliver outside of central control and guidance, and how their performance is assessed through metrics, scrutiny bodies and line management to hold them to account. As part of this work, we are also looking at where we can improve and clarify what governors are empowered to deliver, and how we hold them to account for this. In doing this work, we are keen to understand how this relationship works in other jurisdictions. We would appreciate if you included any key documentation which help inform parts of your answers.
The central Haedquarters are the ones to stablish the general criteria. In each prison, general orders or criteria must be followed. Nevertheless, there is always a need of adaptatation inside the general frame.
In England and Wales, Prison Governors are the managers in charge of a prison. They are managed by a Prison Group Director. Are there similar regional and group management structures in your country?In some areas, but not generally.
In England and Wales, we use the Prison Performance Tool to quantitatively measure prison performance. How is performance of a prison monitored in your country and what metrics are assessed?There are specific targets (joint with other agencies) and their fullfilment is measured each year.
There are a number of organisations which have responsibility for providing scrutiny of prison performance in England and Wales, including Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP). Does your country have equivalent organisations and what powers do theWe have inside ans external controls. The main external control is performance by the Ombusdman.
The majority of prisons in England and Wales are run by the public sector, but 13 prisons are run by private companies. Is there a role for the private sector in your system?Not in running prisons.
In what ways are Prison Governors held accountable to central departments and Ministers in your country, if they are at all? Does the central department actively intervene in poorly performing prisons?Yes, as stated before, general criteria are central and there is a hierarchical dependence.
Can you describe the training that is provided to Prison Governor equivalents in your country? How is the Prison Governor equivalent trained and supported to take on their role, both before appointment and during their tenure?There is a collaboration in university programmes for the management of prisons. There are also specific meetings and courses.
Each Prison has a Governing Governor in charge and is supported by Prison Service Head Quarters. The Director General is accountable, through a Permanent Secretary to the Minister of Justice.
In England and Wales, Prison Governors are the managers in charge of a prison. They are managed by a Prison Group Director. Are there similar regional and group management structures in your country?In Northern Ireland there are three Prison establishments and a Prison Escort & Court Custody Group (PECCS). Each Prison has a Governing Governor who reports directly to the Director of Prisons based in Prison Service Headquarters.
In England and Wales, we use the Prison Performance Tool to quantitatively measure prison performance. How is performance of a prison monitored in your country and what metrics are assessed?The Northern Ireland Prison Service (NIPS) has established “Key Performance Indicators” and each Prison is assessed against these.
There are a number of organisations which have responsibility for providing scrutiny of prison performance in England and Wales, including Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP). Does your country have equivalent organisations and what powers do theSome of the organisations NIPS are assessed and scrutinised by are Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) Criminal Justice Inspectors Northern Ireland (CJINI) Regulation Quality & Improvement Authority (RQIA) Prisoners Ombudsman (currently seeking statutory powers)
The majority of prisons in England and Wales are run by the public sector, but 13 prisons are run by private companies. Is there a role for the private sector in your system?The 6 sites in the NIPS are all Public Service sector.
In what ways are Prison Governors held accountable to central departments and Ministers in your country, if they are at all? Does the central department actively intervene in poorly performing prisons?Governor Governors are held to account for their establishment’s performance against the key performance indicators by the Director General of NIPS.
Can you describe the training that is provided to Prison Governor equivalents in your country? How is the Prison Governor equivalent trained and supported to take on their role, both before appointment and during their tenure?All newly appointed Governor have worked in an operational role within a Prison and have progressed through the uniform promotion process. They will receive training as required to take on their role with ongoing personal development being encouraged. Due to the Covid pandemic much of the formal training has been suspended.
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Prison facilities (hereinafter only “prisons”) in Slovakia are operated as independent legal entities with power to take decisions. The Prison Governors shall perform their positions and exercise their powers in accordance with acts, instructions and regulations. The General Directorate of the Corps of Prison and Court Guard (hereinafter only “General Directorate”) is the methodological and control body that issues the mentioned instructions and regulations and monitors their compliance respectively the right application. Prior the entry into force, the regulations itself (e.g. Order of the Director General) are subject to the comment procedure from the side of the Prison Governors in order to ensure feedback and to take into account the “bottom” viewpoint (from the other side). In the acts, there are determined unified frameworks for all prisons (e.g. act on prison sentence execution), which may be specified in more detail in e.g. House Rules (i.e. rules applied in individual prisons) issued by the Prison Governor.
In England and Wales, Prison Governors are the managers in charge of a prison. They are managed by a Prison Group Director. Are there similar regional and group management structures in your country?We have 18 prisons in Slovakia that are independent and they do not have regional management. Above the prisons, there is the General Directorate that is the methodological and control body monitoring compliance with and application of legislative standards.
In England and Wales, we use the Prison Performance Tool to quantitatively measure prison performance. How is performance of a prison monitored in your country and what metrics are assessed?The General Directorate prepares strategic documents in the field of the prison system (e.g. the Conception of the Prison System until 2030) where are stated short-term, medium-term, long-term aims for individual areas (e.g. pre-trial detention and prison sentence, human resources policy, health care and similar.) The Conception of the Prison System is also discussed at the level of the Ministry of Justice of the Slovak Republic and is approved by the Parliament of the Slovak Republic. From the aims, tasks are defined for a specific year with a determined deadline for fulfilling. The responsibility for fulfilling the tasks may be (but does not have to be) delegated to the Prison Governors. The evaluation of fulfilment of tasks is performed through regular nationwide meetings. It is relatively demanding to define a measurable indicators for all aims or tasks, but we run projects on introducing the measurable criteria for assessment of the performance. In case, the tasks are not fulfilled, a disciplinary proceedings is conducted against each prison officer of the Corps of Prison and Court Guard (hereinafter only “the Corps”) in accordance with the regulations.
There are a number of organisations which have responsibility for providing scrutiny of prison performance in England and Wales, including Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP). Does your country have equivalent organisations and what powers do theThe General Directorate is the control and methodical organization for all prisons. In accordance with the valid legislation, the Director General of the Corps may draw consequences for violation of service discipline or in the event of not complying with the service duties. The supervision over maintaining the rule of law in the prison is also performed by a prosecutor in accordance with a specific regulation.
The majority of prisons in England and Wales are run by the public sector, but 13 prisons are run by private companies. Is there a role for the private sector in your system?No, prisons in Slovakia are solely run by a state.
In what ways are Prison Governors held accountable to central departments and Ministers in your country, if they are at all? Does the central department actively intervene in poorly performing prisons?The Prison Governors are accountable to the Director General of the Corps. The General Directorate methodologically guides and controls individual prisons, and the Director General of the Corps regularly assesses fulfilment of the tasks of the Prison Governors. In case of severe deficiencies when fulfilling the tasks or eventually of fundamental violation of service duties, the Director General of the Corps is authorised to intervene against the Prison Governor.
Can you describe the training that is provided to Prison Governor equivalents in your country? How is the Prison Governor equivalent trained and supported to take on their role, both before appointment and during their tenure?In the past, there was not carried out in the Corps a systematic education aimed at preparation and performance of the position of the Prison Governor. In 2018, the Management Course was carried out for approximately 200 managers of the Corps, including all Prison Governors and their Deputies. Subsequently, the “Competence Model” project was implemented which determined the level of competences for individual levels of management. The next step was the development plan of the stated competences that was unfortunately postponed due to the pandemic situation. A pilot course on education of the management of the General Directorate was implemented. In 2022, 6 management courses are planned for Prison Governors, Directors of the Departments of the General Directorate and their Deputies and also for Personnel Reserve.
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Firstly a clarification of who is a governor. The prison governor in norwegian prisons is just one person in each prison. This is the one person at the top, personally responsible and in charge of the whole prison-institution. Other members of the leader group, like leaders of different wings, specialized departments/ issues/ tasks are not included in the definition of governor. There is formally no direct relationship between the central prison service and the local prison governor. The relation from the central level to the governor is going through the directorate and the regional levels. The prison governor is responsible towards the region. The regional director is then responsible to the Director General of the directorate regarding the performance of all activity in the geographic regional area. The Directorate bases its management and control of the agency on target and performance management, the Norwegian Correctional Service's internal control system and on regulatory developments. To a limited extent, the Directorate also has a control function as an appeals body in connection with individual decisions concerning inmates and convicted persons. Trust and a wide range of delegated legislative authority to the lower level is a main pillar in our system. The superior authority can use its right of instructions well as the ethical guidelines for all personnel in the governmental system when controlling/ making their expectations to any leaders. The ethical guidelines are very important in the chain of managers to maintain trust and accountability in the delivery and communication of policy and priorities. Values like loyalty, duty of obedience, duty of efficiency, transparency or impartiality are some of the professional expectations and standards. This has been important issues in our discussions of targets and performance management. The frequency of contact and personal relationship in the chain of leaders is essential building a structure of trust and openness.
In England and Wales, Prison Governors are the managers in charge of a prison. They are managed by a Prison Group Director. Are there similar regional and group management structures in your country?No.
In England and Wales, we use the Prison Performance Tool to quantitatively measure prison performance. How is performance of a prison monitored in your country and what metrics are assessed?There is no “tool” similar to Eng/ Wales. Performance is assessed against the set of targets and results, according to the national overall expectations.see no 1. The personal performance is followed up by the regional director.
There are a number of organisations which have responsibility for providing scrutiny of prison performance in England and Wales, including Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP). Does your country have equivalent organisations and what powers do the1.The Parliamentary Ombud for Scrutiny of the Public Administration can investigate complaints from citizens ( incl all prisoners) who believe they have suffered an injustice or an error on the part of the public administration. This might include the opinion of prison performance. The Parliamentary Ombud works to prevent torture and inhuman treatment by visiting prisons. 2.The Office of the Auditor General is providing scrutiny of the public service/ governance/ budget+results achieved. The ministry of Justice has appointed the (five) regional Supervisory Councils of Correctional Service. 3.The Supervisory Council of Correctional service reports to the regional level, and given comments, is forwarded to the Directorate of Correctional service. See also; Europris KMS query 170821.
The majority of prisons in England and Wales are run by the public sector, but 13 prisons are run by private companies. Is there a role for the private sector in your system?No.
In what ways are Prison Governors held accountable to central departments and Ministers in your country, if they are at all? Does the central department actively intervene in poorly performing prisons?Prison governors are not held accountable to the central level. They report to the regional level. In case a poorly performing prison, the regional level is in charge of the intervention. But the communication between the levels can be urgent and distinct if needed.
Can you describe the training that is provided to Prison Governor equivalents in your country? How is the Prison Governor equivalent trained and supported to take on their role, both before appointment and during their tenure?A new prison governor is recruited usually after a longer operational uniformed experience. General qualifications from university is mostly wanted. A further education course for all leaders have been organized for the whole country.
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This content is only available to registered members of EuroPris.