<< Objectives >>The pace of digital change in Europe's prisons is quickening but uneven. Front line staff may need to perform their jobs differently, and to reconsider the prisons rehabilitative mission. DIGIWG will facilitate exchange between actors both to develop a common understanding of where key challenges lie in digital prison transformation and change management, and to develop recommendations for decision makers to apply a structured approach to whole-prison digitalisation.<< Implementation >>1) In four sets of online working groups, the DIGICOR Digital Transition Working Group will facilitate and record structured knowledge transfer and exchange on the challenges of implementing digital transition, between actors with different experience, perspectives and mandates.2) We will peer review these outcomes in a workshop3) We will produce 3, jargon-free factsheets giving top priorities for digital readiness and resiliance of prison staff. 4) Support exchange throughout.<< Results >>4 reports detailing the practical nature of difficulty of digital change in prisons at each stage and possible predictors of digital resistance, specific to 4 areas of justice systems. 3 factsheets, addressing European policy level, national policy makers and local/ regional training and professional development educators. 1 project website and discussion board.Multiple dissemination channels

"As discussed by Hewson and colleagues (2020), COVID-19 outbreak in prison setting mirrored wider society. Measures to avoid spreading the virus included the temporary suspension of all family visits and activities with outside persons, such as sport, professional or vocational training (E-European Justice, 2020). Many recreational and occupational prison activities were cancelled, jury trials suspended, and court hearings delayed (Hewson et al., 2020). Once possibilities to substitute activities are scarce in prisons, where access to equipment and the internet are restricted, the time spent in cells increased (up to 23 h per day in some countries) (Kelly et al. 2020). As such, the pressing need to maintain a close to normal functioning has also shed a light on the potential advantages of previously cast aside options, namely technology-based strategies. The COVID-19 pandemic appears to mark a far-reaching turning point for the relationship between prison administrations and technology, while offering a glimpse at a future configuration of prison management services, focused on the individual, by way of technological solutions. In fact, by privileging digital strategies to mitigate the direct negative effects of the pandemic, prison administrations would also be addressing deeply embedded issues which marked the pre-pandemic era, and which will certainly continue to be consequent in the future, such as inmate education and social inclusion. The proposal is closely linked to the idea that the digitalisation momentum derived from the pandemic crisis must not be ignored but instead supported – especially in what concerns inmate education, employability and contact with the outside world. This long-overdue shift creates an opportunity to institute new strategies in prison management and, more than ever, the prison staff’s own ability to handle digital tools and assist prisoners with digital services was needed, revealing the urgent need to invest in the prison staff’s capacity to use digital services. Considering prison staff's (educational/training staff, technicians and prison officers) intermediary role between inmates and technological solutions which exponentially decrease recidivism rates, DIGICOR seeks to invest in providing training to this target group, enhancing their digital skills, and successfully harnessing technology towards inmate rehabilitation. The DIGICOR initiative seeks to support the implementation of innovative solutions, through a capacity-building intervention with prison staff, in turn affecting inmates, and thus facilitating the acquisition of digital literacy skills for one of the most socially and digitally excluded groups, the inmates.Approximately 600 stakeholders will be engaged in the project's activities. In order to fully understand the context-specific needs of the partner countries stakeholders, and building on preliminary research, the Consortium will engage in needs analysis and desk research activities (A2), which will ultimately lead to the production of IO1 State of the art analysis. These efforts will be complemented by the launch of A3, specifically in what concerns the production of the ""prison digitalisation scenarios"", and associated online repository for prison technologies (IO2). The Consortium will then invest in the development of the prison staff digital competences profile, and associated work-based programme, which will be easily transposed into DIGICOR's training provision initiatives: Training provision for the digital transition for prison staff, towards reduced recidivism (IO4, in the form of a b-learning training course) and Train-the-trainer programme for digital readiness (IO5, in the form of an e-learning training course). Both training courses will be operationalised and piloted, as well as the prison digitalisation scenarios, under A5 and A6, respectively. Lastly, DIGICOR will produce a set of policy recommendations, providing guidelines for the digital transition in penitentiary settings, with the aim of favouring inmate reduced recidivism. General project management activities (A1) will be carried out for the entire lifespan of the project, as well as any tasks connected to evaluation and active monitoring (A6), and dissemination and mainstreaming (A7).The Consortium also intends for the project to achieve a ripple effect in what concerns the updating of the training provision in regard to digital skillls for prison staff at a European level. As such, all intellectual outputs will be constructed bearing in mind the need for replicability and adaptability, as they will be made available to all interested entities. Through its dissemination strategy and multiplier events, the Consortium will also seek to influence the agendas of European policy- and decision-makers, so that it is possible to address the broader European relevance of the issues, actions and outputs of the project, looking beyond the project’s confines."

LEADCOR project aims to develop training curriculum and programme for occupational stress reduction through leadership development in the prison context. These professionals, which will be engaged in various piloting and training activities throughout LEADCOR’s timeframe, will be involved by the comprehensive consortium found within this partnership, which comprises four prisons/prison administrations and two trade union representatives of prison officers. Therefore, stress levels will be assessed (IO2) and leadership competences will be upscaled (IO3 & IO4) in an integrated and innovative approach.Its main activities comprise management and coordination of the project (A1), literature review & methodological conceptualisation (A2), innovative approaches development, piloting & fine-tuning (A3), sustainability (A4), overall mainstreaming & dissemination (A5), and assessment & evaluation (A6).There are six Intellectual Outputs (IOs) resulting from the aforementioned activities, namely: LEADCOR conceptualisation & methodological support (IO1), innovative occupational stress diagnosis assessment tool (IO2), leadership training curriculum and programme (IO3), e-learning training course (IO4), train the trainer course (IO5), and promising practices repository (IO6).LEADCOR’s expected impacts are: i) increased awareness on the importance of leadership and the negative impacts of occupational stress in the daily life of prisons; ii) transversal skills development for prison staff, especially leadership and management competences that can positively impact the reduction of stress; iii) mitigation of tensions among management and staff, between staff, among staff and their families, and between staff and inmates (through stress reduction); and iv) positively enhanced health of prison staff members, benefiting society (i.e., enabling considerable savings in personnel budgets by reducing early retirements and absenteeism, while improving the quality of work with inmates and, ultimately, enhancing opportunities for rehabilitation).Regarding its beneficiaries, besides the project partners and their inherent vast network, LEADCOR will be an advantage for prison staff (frontline & technical staff), prison governors/directors, and academics in the short-medium term, as well as inmates/ex-inmates and policy/decision-makers in the long term – 619 participants, at least.

Worldwide more than 10.74 million people are currently being held in penal institutions and the global prison population rate is increasing. Mental illness is prevalent in prison populations, by far exceeding the rate of mental disorders in the general population. Prisoners are also a high-risk group for suicide and self-harm. These mental health issues are exacerbated with age: over 20% of adults aged 60 and over suffer from a mental or neurological disorder. As the world’s population ages rapidly, the number of the elderly in jails and prisons is increasing as well, at an exponential rate of 3 times that of the general prison population. Palliative care (PC) and dying with dignity are considered human rights to those who need essential pain treatment. This topic is even more important considering that the prison population is getting old and that there are negative attitudes about compassionate release. The aim of the project was to increase the response to mental health disorders within prisons and the quality of palliative and end of life care services provided by enhancing the competences of management and frontline staff to address prisoners’ mental health needs and the special needs of older prisoners. The project includes a partnership composed of 8 public and private institutions working in mental health, geriatrics and in corrections. The strategic partnership brings together multi-agency and cross-sectorial agencies (a PC foundation- HCS, 4 prison administrations – DGRSP, ANP, FOD Justitie, a private company specialized in prison staff training & innovation- IPS, a health sciences faculty- UBI, a university hospital- Helse Bergen, and the European representative of prisons and corrections-Europris) to develop new, innovative and integrated approaches to the field of adult education in prison and probation settings. In order to achieve the project objectives, MenACE partnership undertook the following activities: a state of the art and best practices review was made in the fields of mental health, ageism and PC, with a clear focus on these realities in the prison environment (IO1). Particularly, a questionnaire was developed to collect information in the partner countries. The literature review and collection of approaches underpinned the development of the second and third intellectual outputs, namely the training curricula and program (IO2) and the e-learning training course (IO3), addressing the current and future needs of prison staff in 3 key areas of learning: mental health, geriatrics, PC in prison. The integrated training program was designed to be delivered on a blended format, combining an e-learning course with classroom sessions. In parallel, a train the trainer course (IO4) was developed with the aim of ensuring dissemination and sustainability of the proposed approach over time. All outputs were piloted and fined-tuned by the Romanian, Belgian and Portuguese Prison Services. In the end, the partnership delivered a European roadmap with policy recommendations (IO5), that presents transversal and specific proposals regarding staff training, legal framework and services / resources / infrastructure for the 3 areas under analysis: mental health, geriatrics and PC in prison. The following tangible results were achieved during the project: 1 state of the art and best practices report• 1 panel of experts• 1 training toolkit• 1 training guide with detailed competences, skills and indicators• 6 training courses (The essentials of prison health, Mental health in prison, Geriatrics in prison, Palliative care in prison, Staff health and well-being in prison and Dynamic security) •1 learning management system•1 train the trainer course• 1 European roadmap with policy recommendation• 3 course manual• 304 participants to 6 multiplier event • 71 participants in the short term joint staff training events•133 trainees in the piloting of the training program and e-learning course.The project’s results contributed to the development and enhancement of prison staff’s transversal skills. All participants gained new knowledge and tools which are helpful and useful for their everyday work-related challenges and for the effective identification, supervision and care of prisoners. In specific an enhanced capacity of staff to recognize and manage mental health disorders• an improved capacity of staff to identify prisoners at risk of particular distress and anxiety• a greater awareness of age-related needs and challenges regarding social rehabilitation of older inmates• an improved healthcare and palliative care in the targeted prisons• a beneficial impact on the quality of life of prisoners and an improved diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders and age-related diseases in correctional settings. Further, as long-term results, we expect to raise awareness among policy makers about these important challenges that are part of public health.

Prisons are often described as “breeding grounds” for radicalisation and violent extremism, since they are highly unsettling environments in which individuals are more likely than elsewhere to explore new beliefs and associations. Deprived of their existing social networks and given the conditions of their confinement, prisoners with no previous involvement in politically motivated violence are vulnerable to being radicalised and recruited into terrorism. A key driver of radicalisation prevention in prisons is the training and awareness raising of the staff. First line workers have been identified as a key group that can make an important contribution to this issue and include prison and probation staff.Radicalisation Prevention in Prisons (R2PRIS) Project seeks to reduce radicalisation and extremism inside prisons by enhancing the competences of frontline staff (correctional officers, educational staff and psychologists, social workers) to identify, report and interpret signals of radicalisation and respond appropriately. Specific goals included:1. Create awareness on the broad picture of terrorism, the mind set and narratives used by understandingwhy prisons are a breeding ground for radicalisation; the difference between conversion, radicalisation and moving to extremist views (terminology); the pathways and levels of radicalisation, role in the network; recruitment tactics employed within the prison environment; and indicators on how to identify vulnerable people at risk of radicalisation;2. Develop the tools and instruments for prison administration and line-level staff to recognise signs of radicalisation at an early stage within their specific facility;3. Provide common, consistent and effective instruments to help staff report their observations to the appropriate intelligence staff;4. Provide model procedures for intelligence staff to vet the data they receive from prison staff and to appropriately interpret it;5. Establish a series of training programmes and tools for all staff within a prison to respond appropriately to potential vulnerable individuals at risk of radicalisation.Participating Organisations:R2PRIS project promoter:​BSAFE LAB law enforcement, justice and public safety research and technology transfer labUniversity of Beira Interior, PortugalIPS_Innovative Prison Systems, PortugalBelgian Federal Public Service of Justice​, BelgiumEuroPris - European Organisation of Prison and Correctional ServicesThe Netherlands​ICPA - International Corrections and Prisons Association (European branch), The NetherlandsNorwegian Correctional Service, Kriminalomsorgen, ​NorwayNational Administration of Penitentiaries (NAP), RomaniaRomanian Centre for Penitentiary Studies​Universitatea De Vest Din Timisoara (UVT), RomaniaTurkish Prison Administration (Turkey)Main activitiesThe main activities developed along the project implementation term were:Management activities (including project management and evaluation and project meetings);Intellectual outputs (six foresseen intellectual outputs, including written documents, assessment tools, e-learning programs and an online repository);Transnational training activities - Three 1-week staff training events;Dissemination Activities: six multiplier events took place, plus several dissemination activities.ResultsThe following results were achieved during the R2PRIS project:An innovative methodological framework for analysing radicalisation and prevention of radicalisation strategies within prison;A radicalisation screening tool, with respective assessment materials and guidelines for prison administration, line-level and technical staff to recognise signs of radicalisation at an early stage within their specific facility. The tool will be adapted to the specific legal and cultural context of the countries involved in the project;A training course for all staff within a prison on how to detect and respond appropriately to potential vulnerable individuals at risk of radicalisation;An e-learning training course;A train the trainer course;Five national seminars and an international seminar;A handbook and online repository of best practices on radicalisation prevention in prisons, than can be used by trainers;Three short-term transnational staff trainings. Impact and long term benefitsImplementing the developed tools that allow prison staff at different decision levels to assess inmates vulnerabilities and risk of engaging in radicalisation and violent extremism;Having prison staff that is aware and knowledgeable of inmates’ vulnerabilities as well as the radicalisation process;Training front-line, technical and management staff in the field of radicalisation and assessment of risks related with inmates’ radicalisation and vulnerabilities that can be found in the prison itself, using the developed training programs and assessment tools