Project facts

• Funder: European Commission
• Partners: Department of Justice, Equality & Law Reform (Ireland), Swedish Prison and Probation Service (Sweden), Ecole National d’Administration Penitentiare (France);  National Correctional Officers Training School Târgu Ocna (Romania), European Organisation of Prison and Correctional Services (the Netherlands)
• Project period: May 2018 – April 2021
• Budget: € 566.798
• Programme Manager NHC: Emma Oosten

It is important that within the European Union correctional staff receive adequate training in order to ensure that the fundamental rights of prisoners remain respected. This belief was re-enforced by the Council of Europe’s decision to establish common European Prison Rules in 1973.  In 2010, the European Penitentiary Training Academies Network (EPTA) was founded by the heads of a number of European Penitentiary Staff Training Academies for the provision of a structure that can support the sharing of effective training methodologies and contents across Europe. The EPTA network has seen success as a result of the voluntary input from its members. Unfortunately, it lacks the structure and support of an independent professional network which is able to develop working methods and tools that may assist in long-term exchange and cooperation.

The Netherlands Helsinki Committee and EuroPris, in conjunction with National Training Academies across the EPTA, devised this project with the intention of creating a sustainable, professional and active ETPA network, which is able to tackle gaps in cross-border cooperation by stimulating participation and exchanges within the wider network. This, in turn, will allow existing and future European members to collectively benefit from the results.

Click here to learn more about EPTA network in the official flyer

Special Interest Groups (SIGs)

Within the framework of this project, the EPTA project steering committee created three Special Interest Groups (SIGs) that produced several reports on the following topics in terms of training methodology and syllabi. Click on the topics to view the reports:

SIG 1: Leadership / Management

SIG 2: Dynamic security

SIG 3: Managing difficult inmates

The reports are translated into English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. They contain a comparison of European training on the topics above and highlight some best practices, a description of minimum standards for training on these topics based on international regulations and guidelines and a practical handbook for developing training curricula.

• The Best Practices reports will provide penitentiary training academies with current examples of promising training practices regarding the respective topic. These include examples from the Special Interest Group members’ institutions but also from other EPTA member countries. The examples presented aim to illustrate the different European approaches to training on the respective topics and serve as inspiration to other training academies.
• The Minimum Standards reports outline the basic requirements for penitentiary training on the respective topic, based on international rules and regulations as well as the expertise of the Special Interest Group members. We recommend members to follow the set standards in the development and implementation of penitentiary staff training on the respective topics.
• The Training Handbooks provide practical advice and guidance for penitentiary training academies to develop and implement penitentiary staff training based on the insights reflected in the Good Practices and Minimum Standards reports. The Handbooks aims to serve as a practical tool for training academies across Europe to be used and adapted according to the local needs and context.

Please find below the selected SIG members:

SIG1: Leadership & Management

SIG2: Dynamic Security

SIG3: Managing Difficult Inmates