A new Risk and Needs Assessment tool, developed by the Council of Europe in line with Council of Europe standards and based on the feedback and priorities provided by the Slovenian Prison Administration was presented at a training session that took place on 21-23 November in Ljubljana.

Twenty-two staff members from seven different prisons in Slovenia including social pedagogues, psychologists and representatives of the Head Office familiarized themselves with the new tool and were trained on working methodologies and skills that will ensure the use of the tool in practice.

The newly developed Risk and Needs Assessment tool will be further tested in practice by the prison treatment staff during a 6-month pilot phase (January-June 2023).

The completion of the piloting in 2023 will help adjust and insert corrections that will ease the implementation of the tool in practice and design a plan that will secure its future use and the on-site application by prison treatment staff.

Council of Europe will continue supporting the smooth application of the new tool within the framework of the project “Improving the juvenile justice system and strengthening the education and training of penitentiary staff” funded by the European Union via the Technical support instrument and implemented by the Council of Europe in cooperation with the European Commission.