The Directorate for Execution of Sanctions and prison managerial structures from the national penitentiary system of “the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” benefited from a 4-day training on prison management, which took place on 24-27 January 2018 in Bitola.

The training session focused on the states’ obligations arising from the European Convention on Human Rights, particularly Articles 2 and 3, as well as on the findings in the latest Committee for the Prevention of Torture report on the country, and provided a venue for discussions on the possible solutions for some of the challenges and improvement of the conditions for sentenced persons in order to comply with the Council of Europe standards. The training also focused on the importance of policy development and use of standard operating procedures to ensure standards are known to staff and complied with.

Furthermore, the prison governors benefited from the training by learning leadership and managerial skills, discussing ethics and professionalism, strategic management, operational planning, action plans and managing change, through presentations, discussions, practical examples and role play. The participants in the training also prepared a SWOT analysis of their prisons and developed a strategic plan for improving management in their prisons, based on the strategic aims identified and adopted in the National Strategy for the Development of the Penitentiary System (2015 – 2019) and in compliance with international and European standards.

The training session was facilitated by two international consultants and attended by the Head of the Directorate for Execution of Sanctions within the Ministry of Justice and 19 prison governors and deputy governors, as well as other senior officials from different penitentiary institutions nation-wide.

The training was organised within the scope of the Action “Strengthening the protection of the rights of sentenced persons”, a joint project of the European Union and the Council of Europe within the “Horizontal Facility for Western Balkans and Turkey”.