Interagency cooperation workshop (2022)

Introduction

Prison and probation services are expected to increase effectiveness and focus more on rehabilitation, whilst keeping societies safe. To find a good balance between efficiency, security, and reducing reoffending there is a need to involve civil society, social services, and other third parties, to support all aspects of a person’s reintegration and rehabilitation.

On 23-24 November 2022 EuroPris and CEP organise a workshop in Bucharest, Romania, to increase awareness of the need for interagency cooperation and to find solutions supporting this agenda. 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.

How can time in prison be used constructively to safeguard the transition to society? What specific needs must be addressed? How is probation involved and how do probation officers follow up on the work of prison? Where do cooperation among prison, probation, and other agencies meet? The workshop will focus on solutions for specific groups, such as persons with mental disorders, foreign nationals, and the Roma community.

In addition, during Covid-19 cooperation between agencies was challenged and sometimes interrupted. What can we learn from these experiences in terms of resilience and the long-term sustainability of our justice systems and chains for rehabilitation?