Europa and latin america / Penitentiary systems

Virtual seminar on strategies and measures for the prevention of riots and rebellions in prisons

In the framework of the cooperation space enabled through the Covid Channel, the EL PAcCTO Penitentiary Component team has placed itself at the disposal of both regions to facilitate exchanges of information, knowledge and experiences, seeking to reduce the impact of the pandemic on prison systems and ensure they come out strengthened of this emergency period .

The Italian Ministry of Justice, in particular the Department of Prison Administration, has provided the program with expertise from officials who are managing the crisis, in order to cooperate with Latin American counterparts.

The Ministry of Justice has designated a Penitentiary Administration referent for the Covid Channel, who will coordinate, jointly with the Penitentiary Component team, requests for cooperation by activating reference experts for each issue.

This specific assistance has been organized in response to requests from various Covid Canal contact points in Latin American countries, who asked for guidance on strategies and measures to prevent riots and rebellions in prisons, and in view of the expansion of COVID-19 contagion.

This activity has for general objective:

• To contribute to prevent and mitigate Transnational Organized Crime (TOC) infiltration strategies in prison systems, in the emergency situation due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The specific objectives of this initiative are:

• To share good practices on strategies and measures for the prevention of riots and rebellion in correctional facilities;
• To share the lessons learned from the implementation of anti-contagion measures of Covid-19 in the penitentiary systems of EU Member States, with the Latin American penitentiary systems counterparts, focusing on the impact they may have on the TOC’s infiltration strategies.