23 June 2023 – The fifth 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 online.

Representatives of the Ministries of Justice and Health, the National Administration of Penitentiaries (NAP) and the National Probation Inspectorate (NPI) took part in the Steering Committee meeting with the Council of Europe to discuss progress of the initiatives carried out with the Project’s support. The members of the Steering Committee and the Project’s beneficiaries also informed about the changes introduced at policy, legislative and institutional levels of the criminal justice and public health systems in the first half of 2023, as well as their priorities for the second half of the year.

The results achieved with the support of the Project were presented, including: finalisation of the Policies and Standard Operating Procedures in respect of dynamic security, vulnerable prisoners, inter-prisoner violence and criminal subculture among young detainees; two new courses of the NAP Training Centre – on prison management for senior staff and on the work with juveniles and young adults in detention; recommendations for amending regulations with the view to improving nutrition of both healthy detainees and those with a medical condition; provision of 48 electronic monitoring bracelets  to the NPI to support implementation of non-custodial sentences; and training of NPI facilitators on delivery of a new course as part of initial training of probation counsellors.

Moreover, the Council of Europe informed the Steering Committee members that an extension of the Project’s duration by 10 months, i.e. until 31 December 2024, had been granted.

Further on, the priorities for the next phase of implementation were discussed and the operational Work Plan of the Project for July 2023 – February 2024 was presented and approved.

Finally, the Project’s beneficiaries expressed their appreciation of the continuous support offered by the Council of Europe and reaffirmed their commitment to cooperation with it.

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).