Twelve prison governors and other senior representatives of the Directorate for the Execution of Sanctions (DES), enhanced their knowledge on the latest developments and international approaches on addressing violent extremism and radicalisation in prisons, during an advanced training held in Skopje on 2-3 November 2020.

Challenges faced by the penitentiary systems across Europe, early identification of radicalisation, as well as the application of the individual treatment program for radicalised inmates, developed under the projects implemented by the Council of Europe, were at the focus of this training. The presence of all prison governors provided them with an opportunity to discuss ways how to improve the exchange of information with DES and the inter-institutional coordination in order to better address this phenomenon. It was concluded that prison management should strongly rely on the input they receive from the multi-treatment teams, composed of experienced prison staff who are in daily contact with radicalised inmates.

The training took place in a form of hybrid event with in-person presence by the national participants, while it was facilitated online by two international CoE consultants.

This activity was organised under the auspices of the Action “Enhancing the capacities of the penitentiary system and the external oversight mechanism in North Macedonia”, 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.