Good cooperation between the different agencies involved in the rehabilitation of prisoners is a key prerequisite for success. It is with this awareness that representatives of the ministries of justice, prisons, Jajce, Velika Kladuša, Zenica and Hadžići social welfare centres and a multidisciplinary team from the State prison met on 10 May 2023.

This was one in a series of pilot sessions designed to give professionals working with violent extremist offenders an opportunity to exchange knowledge, share information and learn from each other, while developing robust and sustainable pre-release programmes for such offenders due to be released soon.

The participants of the meeting reiterated their commitment to strengthening coordination between prisons and social welfare centres in developing tailored approach for offenders, so as to help them better integrate local communities. The officials also expressed their satisfaction with this collective effort that received positive feedback in their respective institutions.

The State prison in Bosnia and Herzegovina played a pivotal role in co-organizing this event with the support from the project "Ensuring Sustainable Penitentiary Actions in managing the rehabilitation of violent extremist prisoners in Bosnia and Herzegovina (ESPA-VEP)". The project, funded under the Council of Europe Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2022-2025 and implemented by the Council of Europe, has been instrumental in facilitating this work.