18 members of the multi-disciplinary prison teams (MDT) exchanged experience, know-how and challenges on 4-5 May 2022 in Skopje, in preparation for the final stage of piloting the individual programme on radicalisation in prisons. The participants included members of prison police and rehabilitation departments coming from four different prisons in North Macedonia (Idrizovo, Kumanovo, Skopje and Shtip).

Under the supervision of the Council of Europe (CoE) consultant, specific cases were analysed by the teams, and various practices and information exchanged, which is one of the key functions of the multi-disciplinary teams. Moreover, international standards and good practices from other CoE member states, including the Western Balkans region, were presented and discussed. The event further encouraged and enhanced self-confidence among the MDT members, which resulted in agreement to initiate the piloting of the individual treatment programme.

On Wednesday, 4 May, the Training Centre was visited by the Minister of Justice of the Republic of North Macedonia Mr Nikola Tupanceski, who welcomed the engagement of the prison staff and the support provided by the Council of Europe. It was concluded that this activity is an important step towards empowering in-country multi-agency coordination to counter radicalisation in prison. The Training Centre of the Directorate for the Execution of Sanctions was equipped in 2015, with the financial support of the EU and CoE.

This activity was organised under the action on “Enhancing the capacities of the penitentiary system and the External Oversight Mechanism in North Macedonia”, which is a part of the joint European Union and Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022".