Report: FD909 Expert meeting (Leuven, 2019)

The annual EuroPris FD909 meeting was held on 25 and 26 September 2019 at the Leuven Institute, Leuven, Belgium.  The meeting was chaired by Kris Opdenbosch (Belgium) and Kirsten Hawlitschek (EuroPris).  The event was attended by experts from 19 Member States as well as representatives from the European Commission, the Irish Prison Service, Amapola Progretti, the General Secretariat of the European Council and the EuroPris Secretariat.

On Day 1, the morning consisted of world café discussion tables with experts engaging in lively exchange of best practice and issues pertaining to transfer of foreign nationals.  In the afternoon, a presentation was given on Amapola Progretti’s EU Rehabilitation Project as well as a presentation by the European Council and a presentation by Spain on FD909 from a Spanish perspective.

Day 2 started with a presentation from the Irish Prison Service on transfers to and from the Republic of Ireland under the Council of Europe Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons.  Afterwards, a general discussion was held on prisoner transfer issues.  The event ended with Kris Opdenbosch summing up the two-day event.

Click below to download report from the expert group meeting.