The Council of Europe is assisting the Albanian prison service to further improve the treatment and protection of prisoners’ rights, this time by developing a unified guidance related to the reaction of prison staff to incidents that involve prisoners with mental health disorders.

Namely, the first draft of the Incident Protocol developed and shared with the prison authorities was further discussed and improved during a working group meeting on 3-4 July 2024 in Tirana. The multi-disciplinary working group brought together 17 professionals including doctors, psychologists, and prison police who offered their feedback and contribution in fine-tuning the provisions of the draft Protocol to the Albanian context while incorporating Council of Europe standards.

This Protocol will stand as an annex to Standard Operating Procedures in respect of prisoners with mental health disorders, developed during Horizontal Facility II, and will regulate the practice of first reaction, means of restrain, separation, voluntary and involuntary treatment for prisoners with mental health disorders.

The WG meeting was organised under the action “Enhancing the protection of human rights of prisoners in Albania”, which is part of a joint initiative of the European Union and Council of Europe “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye 2023-2026”.