The Council of Europe project that is aiming to strengthen the prison and probation systems, improve healthcare services, and enhance patient treatment in closed institutions will continue for the next four years.
The project is part of the Council of Europe Action Plan for the Republic of Moldova (2025-2028) and builds upon previous initiatives aimed at furthering the human rights-based approach to prison management, improving health care including mental health in prisons, supporting the probation services and enhancing psychosocial rehabilitation of civil and forensic patients in psychiatric institutions.
In the opening of the 1st Steering Committee meeting, the Head of the Council of Europe Office in Chisinau, Falk Lange, underlined the achievements in the last seven years of cooperation including steps towards improving prisons’ management and individualised treatment of the offenders, regulations and conditions in medical units, legislation and health care standards in both prisons and closed institutions. These efforts address recommendations of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers and the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT).
The State Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, Ruslan Lungu, emphasised the success of the new mechanism for compassionate release and the improvement of dietary standards for detainees, effective from 1 January 2025, that ensures proper nutrition for all categories of prisoners, including most vulnerable groups.
The project partners, including the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Health, and other key stakeholders, discussed future priorities at policy, sectorial, institutional and legislative levels in the areas of the project intervention, and endorsed the Project Work Plan for 2025-2028, which focuses on addressing systemic challenges such as overcrowding, inter-prisoner violence, and health care in prisons and psychiatric institutions.
European Prison Rules
