The Europen Union and the Council of Europe joint action on "Enhancing the protection of human rights of prisoners in Albania” is working together with the General Directorate of Prison Administration (GDPA) and the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Albania to further strengthen the capacities of the rehabilitation staff in its prisons. As part of these efforts, the piloting of Risk and Needs Assessment (RNA) tool for Individual Sentence Planning is currently taking place in three prisons in the country - Fier (a regular security prison), Peqin (a high security prison), and in “Ali Demi” (a women prison).

I order to assess the initial utilisation of the tools and to further consolidate their application, an online coaching session was held with selected staff of the three prisons and representatives from the GDPA on 06 April 2021. A number of follow-up training sessions are planned to take place covering the development of daily regimes, and pre-release plans. Mastering the application of these instruments will enhance the skills of rehabilitation staff in managing Albanian prisoners’ individualised treatment plans, thus supporting the prospectus for their reintegration back into the society.

This activity was organised within the scope of the Action “Enhancing the protection of human rights of prisoners in Albania”, co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe within the “Horizontal Facility for Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022” and implemented by the Council of Europe.