Petra Pavlas is based in Vienna, in 2009, she started to work at the Vienna-Josefstadt prison. In 2015, she took over the FNP-affairs unit, located in the Directorate General for the prison service of the Federal Ministry of Justice of Austria. The FNP-affairs unit acts as a consulting service and interface between various departments within the MoJ and all Austrian prisons concerning FNP-affairs, as well as a wide range of other (inter) national organisations and (public) authorities. To improve the management of foreign nationals in Austrian prisons and raise the situational and cultural awareness, Petra additionally holds workshops and seminars on FNP-affairs for prison staff on all FNP-related topics.
In 2020, Petra Pavlas became a EuroPris FNPP Expert Group member and in this capacity contributed articles on FNPs during those challenging times of the pandemic, such as for the EuroPris Newsletter, a blog for Penal Reform International or participated in the HELP seminar ‘Reinforcing International Cooperation in times of COVID-19’. After Nick Hammond stepped down as group coordinator, Petra was very pleased to be given the opportunity to take over the role of group coordinator in January 2022, which she has held ever since.
In Petra’s experience with respect to FNPs language barriers, illiteracy, the Council framework decision 909, voluntary return, implementing new media, reintegration, repatriation, contact to families and social support, collaborations with educational establishments for staffing needs, as well as the effects of alien law on sentenced foreign prisoners should be paid special attention to. Related to the above examples, the expert group can help to – both practically and theoretically – support European Prison Services and contribute to improving the work with foreign national prisoners. It is of particular importance to collect, share and disseminate our expertise to find a “good practice collection”.
Petra speaks German, English, Italian and Turkish (beginner).
