The Council of Europe is helping Albanian institutions improve the treatment of forensic patients by guiding doctors and psycho-social staff of Lezha special institution on the use of modern diagnostic tools. 

A two-day training was held in Tirana on 10-11 December 2024, bringing together 16 professionals representing Lezha provisional institution for forensic patients, the Directorate General of Prison Administration and the Ministry of Health and Social Protection. The training focused on the introduction of the Historical Clinical Risk Management-20 Version 3 (HCR-20/v3) tool, commonly used within prison services, forensic institutions, as well as general or civil psychiatric settings in Council of Europe member states. This methodology allows professionals to determine the presence of 20 violence risk factors in assessed patients, helping to form an objective structured professional judgment.

During the training the participants got acquainted with the tool’s methodology, at the same time practicing the application of the tool to different case studies and designing risk management plans for different categories of forensic patients. HCR-20/v3 is considered a reliable diagnostic tool in forensic psychiatry allowing for the assessment of violence risk with an 80% accuracy.

The Albanian Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Health and Social Protection are planning to officially introduce the use of HCR-20/v3 methodology in Lezha special institution for forensic patients.

The training was conducted in the framework of the joint European Union and Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye – Phase III”, and in particular Action on “Enhancing the protection of Human Rights of prisoners in Albania”.