North Macedonia is successfully piloting the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) on pre-release preparation and post-penal support. Introduced as a novelty in the 2024, the SOP specifies the course of actions in the process prior to and after the release of sentenced persons.

To assist the piloting of this SOP, with the support of EU and Council of Europe, two workshops took place in Skopje and Shtip, the cities with the biggest prisons in the country. They welcomed 25 prison officials responsible for re-socialisation, probation specialists, and representatives from the Social Welfare Centres, and the Employment Agency, who analysed specific cases that will be monitored in the coming period. During the meeting, practitioners discussed cases that are currently in procedure and discussed the necessary steps that each institution should undertake. One of the main conclusions was that an open discussion with judges could help increase the number of probation cases, ultimately easing the post-penal integration.

The piloting follows two years of sustained exchanges and meetings with experienced specialists from the Directorate for the Execution of Sanctions, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Social Policy, Demography and Youth, prison and probation officers, judges, as well as civil society organisations. 

These activities are part of the continuous efforts of the EU and Council of Europe, to strengthen inter-institutional co-ordination and exchange of information, which facilitates the re-integration of sentenced persons and reduce the high reoffending rates. 

This initiative was conducted in the framework of the joint European Union and Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye” and its action “Strengthening the capacities of the penitentiary system in North Macedonia”.