What is the goal?

• The Action aims to enhance the protection of human rights of prisoners in Albania by assisting the Albanian authorities in:
• introducing an effective human resource recruitment and management model and sustainable provision of training for prison staff;
• strengthening the provision of health care services to the prisoners with a particular focus on detainees with mental disorders, including the development of a suicide prevention strategy;
• preparing and piloting rehabilitation and reintegration programmes for prisoners in parallel with the application of a standard risk and needs management system;
• improving the differentiated treatment of vulnerable groups of prisoners.

Who benefits from the Action?

• public authorities such as: Ministry of Justice; General Directorate of the Prison Administration and prisons’ staff, Ministry of Health and Social Protection;
• partners and other stakeholders: Ombudsman, Ministry of Education, civil society organisations that provide services to persons in prisons and other closed institutions;
• as well as prisoners and related family and society at large.

How will the project work?

• through regular exchanges and close coordination with the project beneficiaries and key stakeholders to identify practical challenges and accordingly develop tailor-made methodologies;
• through a combination of technical expertise and participatory working groups with beneficiary institutions to develop tailor-made training materials, action plans, monitoring practices, and legislative advice etc.
• through capacity building and development of tailored trainings and implementation of pilot programmes targeting prisons’ staff and offenders.

What do we expect to achieve?

• the action contributes in improving the organisational and performance capacities of the penitentiary system to ensure human rights protection for prisoners;
• ensures improved provision of health care in prisons, particularly for prisoners with mental problems and for forensic patients;
• enhances the rehabilitation of prisoners through the application of a well-defined individual sentence planning and reintegration programmes for offenders.

How much will it cost?

• the total budget of the Action is 640 000 EUR;
• the budget allocated to the overall Horizontal Facility programme amounts to ca. 41 Million EUR (85% funded by the European Union, 15% by the Council of Europe).

How do we get more information?

• Criminal Law Cooperation Unit of the Council of Europe: https://www.coe.int/en/web/criminal-law-coop
• Horizontal Facility II Website: https://pjp-eu.coe.int/en/web/horizontal-facility/home
• Marija Simić, Horizontal Facility Communication Officer, Marija.Simic@coe.int, +381 63 601 337
• Besnik Baka, Horizontal Facility Communication Officer, Besnik.Baka@coe.int, +355 69 217 8430

This webpage has been produced using funds of a joint project between the European Union and the Council of Europe. The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Union.