The Project “Strengthening the prison and probation reforms, provision of health care and treatment of patients in closed institutions in the Republic of Moldova” (“SPPRH Project”) with the duration of 36 months (March 2021 – February 2024) is funded through and is in line with the strategic priorities for co-operation as formulated in the Council of Europe Action Plan for the Republic of Moldova for 2021-2024.

The Project builds on the achievements of the previous Council of Europe Action Plans for the Republic of Moldova, notably, results of the projects implemented between 2015 and 2020, namely, the Programme “Promoting a human rights compliant criminal justice system in the Republic of Moldova” (01 March 2018 – 28 February 2021) and the Project “Support of the Criminal Justice Reforms in the Republic of Moldova” (2015 – 2018). The Project is also focused on further consolidating the achievements of the Norwegian Mission of Rule of Law Advisers to Moldova (NORLAM) activities in country completed in June 2017.

The Project is aimed 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).

Main intervention areas will cover policy/legal framework, institutional and practical implementation levels, and the expected results of this Project are the following:

• Management of prisons is further improved to better support the prisoners’ rehabilitation: integrating modern prison management methodologies and tools, and further increasing the prison staff skills and knowledge on human rights of persons deprived of liberty;
• Quality of the provision and organisation of health care services (including mental health care) for inmates are further enhanced in line with European standards: developing specialized tools, policies and improving the material medical conditions in prisons;
• Strengthened institutional capacity of Probation Service and multidisciplinary co-operation with other actors through more effective implementation of community sanctions and measures in support of offenders’ social reintegration: strengthening the capacities of Probation to treat medium and high-risk offenders and fine-tuning the inter-institutional cooperation;
• Strengthened treatment of patients in psychiatric establishments (including forensic patients) in line with European standards: enhancing the treatment programmes and protocols and improving the knowledge and skills of staff in applying them within multidisciplinary teams.