News

Promoting the Resettlement of (ex-) offenders in Europe

June 2007

A policy Forum "Prevention or Re-Imprisonment" to be held on 21-22 June in Warsaw.

Some 121 EQUAL Development partnerships have piloted new approaches to working with ex-offenders through re-settlement support, aftercare or assisting inmates whilst in prison. These projects deal primarily or exclusively with (ex)-offenders and directly involve the institutions/authorities of the penal system. They represent a very substantial European investment in the development and testing of innovative good practices that have a potential for dissemination and mainstreaming throughout the European Union.

UKgb and Germany are leading a Steering Group of Member States which coordinates a series of activities to mainstream innovative resettlement practices that have been developed and tested within EQUAL. The intention of this Forum in Warsaw is to confront those individuals who are responsible for elements of penal and/or resettlement policies with the good practices that are emerging from EQUAL and to engage their interest in taking these forward. The three main themes for this Policy Forum are:

The 'holistic approach' to rehabilitation of offenders - The partnership principle of EQUAL has resulted in many positive examples of structured cooperation between all those public and private bodies and NGOs that are involved in the process of resettlement.
The balance between security and citizenship - Some of the EQUAL innovations in prisons are structural and relate to the management of change in prisons, the introduction of quality systems and the motivation of staff to adopt a more creative, pro-active attitude to the rehabilitation of inmates.
The benefits of European cooperation - This focuses on collaboration between the various National EQUAL Offender Networks (NEONs) and other networks of projects working with (ex)-offenders.

Up to now, issues related to prisoners' resettlement have not been strongly reflected at EU level, as no framework exists for debate on policy issues and initiatives.

The Warsaw Forum should provide a platform for initiating this dialogue and lead, hopefully, to more sustainable, further action.

News Promoting the Resettlement of (ex-) offenders in Europe June 2007 A policy Forum "Prevention or Re-Imprisonment" to be held on 21-22 June in Warsaw. Some 121 EQUAL Development partnerships have piloted new approaches to working with ex-offenders through re-settlement support, aftercare or assisting inmates whilst in prison. These projects deal primarily or exclusively with (ex)-offenders and directly involve the institutions/authorities of the penal system. They represent a very substantial European investment in the development and testing of innovative good practices that have a potential for dissemination and mainstreaming throughout the European Union. UKgb and Germany are leading a Steering Group of Member States which coordinates a series of activities to mainstream innovative resettlement practices that have been developed and tested within EQUAL. The intention of this Forum in Warsaw is to confront those individuals who are responsible for elements of penal and/or resettlement policies with the good practices that are emerging from EQUAL and to engage their interest in taking these forward. The three main themes for this Policy Forum are: The 'holistic approach' to rehabilitation of offenders - The partnership principle of EQUAL has resulted in many positive examples of structured cooperation between all those public and private bodies and NGOs that are involved in the process of resettlement. The balance between security and citizenship - Some of the EQUAL innovations in prisons are structural and relate to the management of change in prisons, the introduction of quality systems and the motivation of staff to adopt a more creative, pro-active attitude to the rehabilitation of inmates. The benefits of European cooperation - This focuses on collaboration between the various National EQUAL Offender Networks (NEONs) and other networks of projects working with (ex)-offenders. Up to now, issues related to prisoners' resettlement have not been strongly reflected at EU level, as no framework exists for debate on policy issues and initiatives. The Warsaw Forum should provide a platform for initiating this dialogue and lead, hopefully, to more sustainable, further action. Read more on the framework: Conference programme: Background document: Top	Home page Activities & results How does EQUAL work? EQUAL in the Member States News All news Newsletter Useful links

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