The sixth Steering Committee meeting of the Council of Europe Project “Strengthening the prison and probation reforms, provision of health care and the treatment of patients in closed institutions in the Republic of Moldova” was held in Chisinau.

With the participation of 19 representatives from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), Ministry of Health (MoH), National Administration of Penitentiaries (NAP), and National Probation Inspectorate (NPI) the meeting focused on reviewing and endorsing the progress achieved in the field of criminal justice and public health with the support of the project throughout 2023, while outlining the priorities to be addressed by the end of 2024.

The project contributed to improving policy and legislation in the field of mental health and wellbeing, as well as to advancing national standards on treatment of patients in closed institutions in line with CPT recommendations. To support resocialisation and reintegration of inmates, tangible progress was attained in both management of risk in prisons and on individualised sentence planning. In supporting institutional capacities in prison and probation, the project focused on new programmes for the most vulnerable groups including women and children in detention, as well as on exchanges of best practices and interinstitutional cooperation.

Following the discussions on priorities for the Project's concluding phase, the Steering Committee endorsed the operational Work Plan covering the period of March-December 2024.

The Project has a duration of 46 months and is financed through the Council of Europe Action Plan for the Republic of Moldova (2021-2024).

Building on the achievements of the Council of Europe Programme “Promoting a human rights compliant criminal justice system in the Republic of Moldova” (2018-2021), the Project aims at supporting the enhancement of the prison management practices, the improvement of the quality of the provision of health care to inmates (including mental health care), supporting the probation in raising its profile, promoting the value of community sanctions and measures among all actors of the criminal justice system and strengthening of treatment programmes and protocols for patients in psychiatric establishments (including forensic patients).