A series of round tables with training elements on the application of the Handbook for prisoner management and enhancing human rights in closed environment started on 4-5 July in Banja Luka with a session for senior treatment and security prison staff and prison staff dealing with tretment of detainees.

This Handbook was recently completed within the framework of the Horizontal Facility for Western Balkans and Turkey ‘‘Enhancing human rights protection for detained and sentenced persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina''. It provides a detailed operational guidance inter alia on the application of a set of specific treatment programmes aimed at addressing offending behaviour during imprisonment, definition of the intensity of treatment provided to prisoners and forms of rehabilitation work.

Of particular importance is the novelty introduced with this Handbook in BiH prison system(s) following CPT's long standing recommendation to local authorities: a specifically designed regime for pre-trial detainees, improved with provision of purposeful activities and a clear structure of their time spent in pre-trial detention, regardless of the length of stay.

Different categories of prison staff will be introduced, over the next 12 months, to the substance of this Handbook and guided through the process of acquiring new skills, necessary to apply the specific treatment programmes in practice.