Romania: Strengthening the provision of health care and mental health care in prisons

The Council of Europe implemented a 24-month project to support Romania in its efforts to strengthen the provision of health care and mental health care in their prisons in line with the Council of Europe standards and ECtHR case law.

The project was implemented by the Cooperation in Police and Deprivation of Liberty Unit in cooperation with the main partners, the Ministry of Justice, the National Administration of Penitentiaries and the Ministry of Health.

To this end, the project focused on policy, regulatory framework and operational approaches:

Policy and regulatory framework level:

The project supported the development of a strategy/policy document on human resources in order to attract medical staff to work in prison system and assisted the Romanian authorities with legal analysis and recommendations on improving the regulatory framework on the provision of health care in prison system.

2. Operational level:

The project enhanced knowledge and skills of medical and no-medical staff on medical ethics specific for the prison environment, such as respect of patient confidentiality, as well as recording injuries, especially injuries resulted from ill-treatment, and on the health screening process of inmates upon admission in prison.

The project developed protocols to deal with prisoners suffering from mental health problems and increased the capacities of medical and non-medical staff to provide health care to patients suffering from mental health issues.

The project started on 1 January 2022 and was completed on 31 December 2023 with a total budget of 440.000 Euros financed by the Human Rights Trust Fund.

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Back Strengthening of prison healthcare-launch of the new Council of Europe project in Romania

The beginning of a Council of Europe and the Romanian authorities’ project “Strengthening the provision of health care and mental health care in prisons in Romania” has been marked with a launching event held on 15 March 2022, in Bucharest.

The 2-year Project will assist the Romanian authorities in continuing their efforts to improve the provision of health care afforded to the prisoners as well as provision of appropriate psychiatric care in a medical and therapeutic environment in line with the Council of Europe standards and European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) case law. The Project, will support Romania in the implementation of the ECtHR group of cases Bragadireanu/ Rezmives v. Romania and Ticu v. Romania on the shortcomings on the provision of health care and mental health care in prisons, pending execution before the Committee of Ministers.

The State Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, Mr George-Bogdan Ilea and Deputy Director General of the National Administration of Penitentiaries, Ms Ioana Morar expressed their full support and commitment to the project and highlighted its importance and relevance.

The launching event which gathered more than 60 guests was followed by the first meeting of the Project Steering Committee. The members of the Steering Committee reflected on the needs and priorities, discussed concrete future actions and endorsed the project’s overall Work Plan and the activity plan for the coming months.

The Project partners and beneficiary institutions are Ministry of Justice, National Administration of Penitentiaries and Ministry of Health.

This project is funded by the Human Rights Trust Fund.

Romania 16 March 2022