HF II Regional - Enhancing penitentiary capacities in addressing radicalisation in prisons

As part of the second phase of the European Union and the Council of Europe co-funded cooperation framework “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey” (Horizontal Facility II), the Council of Europe implemented a Regional Action on “Enhancing penitentiaries capacities in addressing radicalization in prisons in Western Balkans”. The Action was implemented in close cooperation with the Ministries of Justice and the P/CVE coordination bodies of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Republic of Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia…. The Action included a wide spectrum of other national stakeholders and civil society organizations active in the penitentiary field and countering violent extremism and radicalisation in prisons.

The main aim of the Action was to enhance regional security by improving the inter-institutional exchange of knowledge and good practices in the region in respect of radicalization in prisons, with a view on providing penitentiary system staff with necessary standards, tools and instruments needed to respond appropriately. Another important goal was to empower in-county multi-agency coordination to counter radicalization in prison and to provide adequate post-penal support to released violent extremist offenders.

The Action also assisted the national authorities to ensure that the application of the tools and mechanisms on national level with regards to addressing radicalisation in prisons further strengthens in light of the identified good practices in the region.

The Action’s duration was set at 36 months and it iwas completed by 31 December 2022, with an overall budget of 2,000,000.000 Euros.

* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence.

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Back Selected prison staff in Kosovo* and Serbia trained to make structured professional judgement when assessing violent extremist prisoners

@ Council of Europe

What behavioural indicators could indicate presence of radicalisation? What factors are relevant and carry weight of assessment of a risk level a prisoner may pose? How to translate knowledge and information gathered and determine priority individual rehabilitation and treatment needs of a violent extremist prisoner (VEP)? – were only some of the topics addressed in seven (7) cascade training sessions for prison staff in Kosovo and Serbia.

More than 170 selected participants, coming from management, security and treatment sectors from more than 30 prison facilities in the two Beneficiaries, increased their knowledge on evidence-based methodology in screening and conducing risk and needs assessment of VEPs. They also discussed potential obstacles prison staff may face when this methodology becomes standardised operational procedure in working with VEPs and prisoners at risk from radicalisation across all detention facilities.

The training sessions were facilitated by the prison staff who took part in piloting of the VEP-specific tools and programme in Kosovo and Serbia. The trainers also shared with their peers the challenges they encountered during the pilot phase, allowing them to exercise the application of the tools through simulations on case studies.

The cascade sessions were organised under the Beneficiary-specific components of the regional action “Enhancing penitentiary capacities in addressing radicalisation in prisons in the Western Balkans”, implemented within the joint European Union and the Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022″.

* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence.

Kosovo and Serbia 22 June 2022