Mass Media Overview
Prison Reform Project
09.06.2008 14:41
http://www.sdc-seco.ru/en/
Project Background
The current programme was launched in 1997. Since then the Swiss Cooperation Office has worked closely with the Ministry of Justice and other affiliated institutions in elaborating and implementing training programmes for social workers employed in the Russian prison system. Project activities are based on the Russian Federation's national plans for prison reform and several decrees concerning social services. The government has begun implementing substantial reforms in the penitentiary system, reforms which have considerably improved the situation in Russia's prisons. Today problems that must still be addressed include overcrowding, social support both within and outside of prisons, social conditions within prisons (increasing numbers of prisoners with tuberculosis, HIV and AIDS), and other human rights concerns.
Overall Goal
To establish and assist social work in the Russian prison system with a view to contributing to the ongoing reform process designed to improve the human rights situation in prisons.
Current Objectives
To develop and implement programmes for training social workers in key institutions and their partner detention facilities participating in the programme.
Strategy
To make Swiss expertise available to the Ministry of Justice and affiliated institutions as they develop programmes for training social workers. A five-year curriculum is designed to train a range of highly competent specialists in the field. In addition, a shorter three-month training session has been devised to allow penitentiary staff who already have a higher education (psychologists, for example) quickly acquire the necessary skills to perform social work in prisons. Training programmes all include an internship in a detention facility that is participating in the programme.
Further plans envisage:
- establishing a network between training institutions in order to ensure cooperation, feedback and better coordination in training social workers as well as further harmonising social work done in the national prison system;
- measures aimed at improving the status and image of the profession of social worker.
Expected Results
The partner training institutions allow social workers to benefit from high-quality training that equips them with new skills and competences, and ultimately improves their performance as professionals.
- Programmes are completed, examined, coordinated, modified and promulgated at the national level through a network of partner institutions.
- According to the Justice Ministry, a sufficient number of social workers are being trained for and going on to work in the penitentiary system.
- Social work is increasingly perceived as a necessary component of an effective prison system.
- Social life in prison is improving as are prisoners' prospects and social conditions.
Highlights
Switzerland has established a close partnership with the Federal Service for the Execution of Penal Sentences (FSIN) of the Ministry of Justice. Russian authorities recognise Switzerland's expertise in carrying out social work in prisons and, therefore, Switzerland's role in reforming the prison system. In January 2006 a Programme of Cooperation was signed. Since the project was launched the government has proposed several initiatives designed to improve the human rights situation in the prison system, disseminate information on instances of success, and raise public awareness about the necessity of such reforms (for example, by holding national conferences). On the administrative side, various decrees have been recently ratified and therefore further legitimate these procedures and ensure that they will become institutionalised and sustainable.
Project Information
Duration of present phase: 01.08.2005 - 31.07.2008
Budget: 1'600'000 CHF
Partners: Federal Service for the Execution of Penal Sentences (FSIN) of the Ministry of Justice and its territorial organs, training institutions associated with FSIN, including the Ryazan Academy of Law and Management, the Tomsk branch of the Ryazan Academy of Law and Management, and the Vologda Institute of Law and Economics.
Implementing Agency: The Swiss Cooperation Office with the assistance of accredited specialists.
Project Location: In the long-term the project will be implemented throughout the Russian Federation with key institutions in Moscow, Ryazan, Vologda, and Tomsk.