European Prison Training Academies (EPTA) network

The European Prison Training Academies (EPTA) was initiated in November 2008 at the French National Correctional Administration Academy (ENAP). It gathers training academies of Europe and promotes the exchange of good practices and debates on specific issues related to correctional training.

In reference to the EPTA Protocol, each year, a different country becomes president of the network and hosts a thematic seminar.

https://www.epta.info/

History

November 2008 : France (Agen) : the International Relations Department of ENAP initiated a meeting with several European Partners so that each member may present its initial and continuous training.

June 2009 : Italy (Rome) : the network drafts the common declaration and the accession protocol around common values

April 2010 : Spain (Toledo) : The founding members sign the network declaration protocol :

• Andorra : Department of Penitentiary Institutions, Andorra la Vella
• Belgium : Training Centre for penitentiary staff (CFPP) &Training Centre for dutch-speaking penitentiary staff (OCPP), Marneffe & Bruges
• Catalonia : Centre for Legal Studies and Specialized Training ( CEJFE), Barcelona
• Croatia : Ministry of Justice, Training Center for Prison and Probation Staff, Zagreb
• France : French National Correctional Administration Academy (ENAP), Agen
• Italy : Department of training of the Penitentiary Administration, Roma
• Norway : University of Norwegian Correctional Service (KRUS), Lillestrøm
• Romania : National Administration of Penitentiaries (SNPAP), Tirgu Ocna
• Spain : Training Area General Secretary of Penitentiary Institutions (SGIP), Madrid
• Suede : Prison and Probation Service Training and Education, Stockolm , Orrebro, Nörrköping, Malmö

Additional members joined later on :

2012

• Armenia : Law Institute of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia (SNCO), Yerevan
• Denmark : Central Penitentiary Training Centre,
• Georgia : Penitentiary and Probation Training Centre (PPTC), Gardabani
• Ireland : Irish Prison Service College (IPSC), Portaloise
• Poland : Central training Centre of Prison Service COSSW), Kalisz
• Switzerland: Swiss Prison Staff Training Centre, Fribourg

2013

• Northern Ireland : The Northern Ireland Prison Service College (NIPSC), Belfast
• Austria : Austrian Correctional Academy, Vienne
• Germany ( Bavaria) : Bavarian Prison Academy, Straubing

2016

• Czech Republic : Prison Service Academy, Stráž pod Ralskem

2017

• Ukraine : Institute of the Criminal Executive Service of Ukraine, Kiev

2018

• Estonia : College of Justice - Estonian Academy of Security Sciences, Tallinn
• Finland : Criminal Section Agency, Training Institute for Prison and Probation Services, Helsinki
• Moldavia : Department of Penitentiary Institutions, Chisinau
• Portugal : Directorate General for Rehabilitation and Prison Services, Caxias

 

The annual meetings

• June 2011 : Oslo, Norway : “Development of leadership”; Nordic research project on recidivism; “the quality of Prison staff training”; group discussions on the possibilities of cooperation
• September 2012 : Marneffe, Belgium : Hostage taking, radicalisation in prisons, what constitutes a good training curriculum
• June 2013 : Dublin, Ireland : e-learning, aging inmates, violence prevention, female inmates,
• June 2014 : Barcelona, Spain : Handling security in prisons, violence prevention, new training experiences (methodology & innovation)
• November 2015 : Roma, Italy : The training needs in the evolution of new penal patterns
• November 2016 : Kalisz, Poland : Radicalization (prevention, intelligence, etc.) with the results of Brussels conference of 20th,  May 2016 - Disabled inmates (mentally; physically)
• September 2017 : Fribourg, Switzerland : Leadership training / training of prison managers (to be confirmed)
• June 2018 : Agen, France : Dynamic Security and positive relationship between inmates and the prison staff.
• June 2019 : Târgu Ocna, Romania : Staff motivation and retention
   

Development

A STEERING COMMITTEE

During the annual meeting in November2016, it has been decided that a steering committee (COPIL) would be in charge of developing and structuring the EPTA network. In this way this steering committee allows to multiply the formal and informal meetings and to think about more effective modes of cooperation. Currently, the COPIL includes Catalonia, France, Italy, Switerland and EuroPris.

A first meeting of the COPIL took place in February 2017 in Rome.

EUROPRIS

The Europris network (www.europris.org), which gathers prison administrations, is present as an observer at the annual meetings and takes part in the activities. November 2016 (annual conference in Kalisz, Poland) : A cooperation agreement is signed with Europris (represented by Ms Kirsten Hawlitschek, Director). The agreement provides for the EuroPris Secretariat to provide a permanent and stable structure and a point of contact for EPTA members and interested third parties. It also provides for Europris to dedicate a web page to EPTA on the website : http://epta.europris.org/

As of 2019, EuroPris supports the rotating presidency by assuming the secretariat of the network.

The European Project EPTA

In 2017, various members (Ireland, Sweden, France, Poland, EuroPris) applied with external coordinators (the Netherlands Helsinki Committee) to a European project under the Justice program of the European Commission. This project, also called EPTA, started in May 2018 and aims to structure and develop the action of the EPTA network (conferences, training workshops, exchange of information and training contents, trainers exchange)

2018 : The EPTA Conference in Agen

Under the French presidency of the ENAP for the year 2018, the academy organized the annual conference of the EPTA network on June 13th and 14th 2018.

The topic was "Dynamic security and positive relationship between inmates and prison staff".

Different activities were organized during this conference :

• International presentations from Belgium (the Enneagram), Catalonia (Development of participation and social harmony in prisons), Ireland (dynamic security), Finland (impact of prison reforms on training), Norway (dynamic security), Romania (Professional training and recidivism).
• Workshops ("Training staff in restorative justice measures: restorative mediation, meeting inmates/ victims, support and responsibility meetings "& "training the staff to obtain cooperation from difficult inmates"
• A photographic exhibition on the ingenuity of the prisoners (thanks to the photographs sent by the participants)

During the conference, the number of members will grew with the addition of four additional members.

Among the 50 international participants (members and observers outside ENAP), there will be also the presence of :

• the International Corrections and Prisons Association network (ICPA),
• the International Association of Correctional Training (IACTP) network,
• the Council of Europe (Council for Penological Co-operation PC-CP), the Netherlands Helsinki Committee
• the Public Interest Group operator "Justice Cooperation Internationale" (JCI)