In a number of reports, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (hereinafter “CPT”) has noted a ‘longstanding feature’ of the Moldovan prison system – a well-established informal hierarchy and subculture that leads to inter prisoner violence and intimidation. Thus following consultations with the Department of Penitentiary Institutions (hereinafter-DPI), it was decided to develop a baseline study into  criminal subculture in the prisons in the Republic of Moldova (hereinafter- Study) addressing the exact links between criminal subculture and inter-prisoner violence, providing recommendations on how to counteract this negative phenomenon in the Republic of Moldova.

For this purpose a team of international and national experts, namely Mr Arshak Gasparyan, Mr Gavin Slade, Mr Jurgen Van Poecke, and Mr Victor Zaharia, was deployed. The expert team had few missions in the Republic of Moldova, as well as an extensive ground work was done to collect necessary data.

This Study presents a particular importance as it is the first comprehensive paper to address the criminal subculture issue in Moldova. The Study answers the following questions 1. What is the salience of criminal subculture in the prison system in Moldova? 2. How does criminal subculture, and its interaction with formal rules and procedures, produce instances of violence and inter-prisoner abuse? 3. How can the links between criminal subculture and violence and abuse be broken? The Study utilizes a representative survey of prisoners and staff, interviews, focus groups and documentary analysis to present the prevalence of the criminal subculture and examine its exact links to violence and victimisation in prisons. It makes a number of practical recommendations for tackling the criminal subculture in the penitentiary system of Moldova, with the reference to already existing positive practices in Rusca and Goian prisons.

To present the findings and the recommendations of the Study, as well as to outline the necessary measures to be taken on immediate, intermediary and policy levels, on 5-6 March 2018,round table discussions were organised on the platform of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Moldova with the participation of the experts/authors of the Study and criminal justice actors of Moldova.

The first day of the discussions targeted the staff representatives of the Department of Penitentiary Institutions, representatives of the Prosecution Service, National Anti-corruption Centre and the Police. Whiles the second day of the discussions involved more extended audience form the Ombudsperson’s Office and the National Preventive Mechanism against torture, profile NGOs, national and international experts.

During the discussions, most importantly, the propriety actions were identified to tackle criminal subculture in prisons vis-à-vis the measures envisaged in the Prison System Development Strategy 2016-2020. At the same time, it was agreed by all actors that joint efforts should be taken to address the negative phenomenon of the criminal subculture in prisons in Moldova.

The Study was developed and presented within the framework of the Council of Europe project “Support to criminal justice reforms in the Republic of Moldova” financed by the Government of Denmark.