Following the development of the new prison monitoring toolkit earlier this year, the first three on-site coaching sessions for the members of the Civil Monitoring Boards (CMBs) were conducted successfully.
These sessions, aiming at testing the applicability of the toolkit within prison context, covered all prison monitoring stages, such as preparation, conducting the visit, reporting and follow-up to the visit. They contributed towards establishing a more uniformed prison monitoring approach throughout Turkey and enhanced the capacities of the involved CMB members in better assessing the compliance of prison conditions and treatment vis-a-vis the applicable international standards and national legislation.
The CMB members assessed the piloting sessions as very useful and helpful, since they not only further strengthened their monitoring skills, but also enabled them to recognise their shortcomings when interviewing prisoners and writing effective monitoring reports. The importance of collecting information and their triangulation throughout all the phases of the monitoring was emphasised during the sessions.
The first on-site coaching took place in Sincan Prison (Ankara) on 20-24 September 2021, the second in Antalya Prison on 24-28 October 2021, while the third session took place in Menemen Prison (İzmir) on 6-10 December 2021. Five CoE consultants, out of which 3 are former CPT members, facilitated the coaching sessions for a total of 31 CMBs members. The piloting will continue in 2022 and detailed evaluation reports with recommendations for improvements will follow each pilot visit.
These activities were organised within the scope of the Project entitled “Enhancing the Effectiveness of the Civil Monitoring Boards in Turkey in line with the European Standards”, funded by Sweden, Switzerland, the Republic of Turkey, the Human Rights Trust Fund of the Council of Europe and Canada.
