HF II Albania - Enhancing the protection of Human Rights for prisoners

Building upon the results achieved from the implementation of the first phase of European Union and Council of Europe programmatic framework “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey” (Horizontal Facility), the new Action “Enhancing the protection of human rights of prisoners in Albania” assisted the Albanian authorities to further enhance prison reform and the protection of the human rights of prisoners. It was implemented in close partnership with the Ministry of Justice, the Directorate General of the Prison Administration and with other relevant institutions and stakeholders, including civil society organisations active in the penitentiary field.

The Action covered four main areas:

Introduction of the effective human resources and sustainable training programme for prison management;
Strengthening the provision of health care to prisoners with a particular focus on detainees with mental disorders and the implementation of suicide prevention strategy;
Strengthening the process of rehabilitation and reintegration of prisoners with a particular focus on the implementation of a standard system of risk management;
Improvements in the treatment of vulnerable groups of prisoners, in particular high risk /violent prisoners, sex offenders and female prisoners.

The Action was completed on 31 December 2022, with an overall budget of 640,000 EUR.

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Back Albanian prison professionals are trained on self-harm and suicide prevention in prisons

@ Council of Europe

The capacities of prison staff in detecting, reporting, referring and preventing self-harm and suicide in Albanian prisons were improved through the training sessions with multidisciplinary teams composed of social, prison security and medical staff.

To initiate the support concerning this particular topic, on 10 and 11 November 2021 a training was held in Tirana for a multidisciplinary team of 34 prison staff coming from all over Albania.

The training offered not only theoretical knowledge, but also practical aspects which were collected in the form of feedback from simulation exercises. Discussions during role play exercises enhanced the cooperation and flow of information between security officers and medical staff.

Trained staff are projected to serve in the future as focal points in different prison facilities concerning suicide prevention. A dedicated ToT on suicide prevention signs and first help is planned to take place with security staff in the following months.

This activity was organised within the scope of the action “Enhancing the protection of human rights of prisoners in Albania”, as a part of joint initiative of the European Union and Council of Europe “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022”.

Tirana 16 November 2021