Directors of prison and probation services from the 47 Council of Europe member states as well as renowned experts and researchers in this field are meeting online on 9 and 10 November. They will discuss measures taken to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic in prisons and services in charge of supervising community sanctions and measures (such as conditional release, community service, electronic monitoring or home arrest) also known as alternatives to imprisonment.
The 25th Council of Europe Conference of Directors of Prison and Probation Services will be an opportunity to examine the managerial and sanitary decisions, their implementation in practice and the lessons learned since the beginning of the pandemic. The participants will also consider which steps are needed to deal with similar situations in the future, in full respect of human rights.
On the agenda is also a discussion about the implementation of the revised European Prison Rules, adopted by the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers in July 2020, and of the Council of Europe’s Probation Rules, ten years after their adoption.
The event will be opened on 9 November at 14h30 by Christos Giakoumopoulos, Council of Europe Director General of Human Rights and the Rule of Law, and feature a number of keynote speakers, including Mykola Gnatovskyy, President of the Anti-torture committee (CPT).
