Rehabilitation programmes constitute one of the weak elements of the penitentiary system in Montenegro and a recurring point raised in many national and international monitoring bodies' reports, including the report of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT). In an effort to increase the quality of the work undertaken by prison treatment staff and to comply with the CPT recommendations and internationally set standards, such as the CM/Rec (2006)2 on the European Prison Rules, the Council of Europe assisted with identifying the shortcomings in the skills of the treatment staff and addressing the relevant deficiencies. To this end, employees of the Treatment Department of the Institute for the Execution of Criminal Sanctions in Montenegro have gone through two sessions of specialised trainings on individual sentence and long term sentence planning as well as on cognitive behavioural therapy.

The two training sessions contributed to the engagement of better skilled treatment staff and facilitated the adjustment to international standards with regards to the rehabilitation programmes, as a key part of the reintegration processes and main focus of a modern sentencing system. A third training session on working with sex offenders will take place by the end of 2018.

The training was carried out in accordance with the programme developed within the Action “Enhancing human rights protection for detained and sentenced persons in Montenegro that is co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe, which started on 1 October 2016 and will finish in January 2019.