Senior representatives of Ministries of Justice of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Federation of BiH and Republika Srpska, as well as prison managers from the Federation of BiH and Republika Srpska met on 20 June 2019 in Trebinje in order to define guidelines for drafting a comprehensive Strategy for selection of prison staff intended to work with violent and extremist prisoners in maximum security prisons.

The participants have underlined the importance of drafting such a strategic document in order to create the necessary requirements for efficient identification of adequate staff to work with violent and extremist prisoners. Proper selection of the prison staff and their continuous specialist training are crucial factors in sucessful rehabilitation and reintegration of violent and extremist prisoners, and in preventing the spread of harmful effects of radicalisation in prisons, with full respect of the human rights.

The Working Group concluded that in drafting the Strategy, they shall adhere with due care to the Council of Europe standards pertaining to the selection and recruitment of prison staff.

This activity has been organised as part of the project ''Structured Sentence Management for Violent and Extremist Prisoners in Bosnia and Herzegovina'', funded thanks to the generous contribution of the British Government and the USAID office in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and implemented by the Council of Europe.