Research report Suicide risk and its possible reduction among incarcerated persons in the context of predictive capacity (pilot study based on qualitative analysis of four suicide events)

Author: Lt Col Dr Jarosław Rychlik, Professor, University of Justice

Introduction

Within the adopted plan, the following aspects of suicide risk are distinguished:

1. The individual dimension – involving the search for internal, personal determinants of
   suicide (e.g., traits, tendencies, beliefs and attitudes, mental disorders and illnesses, etc.);

2. The individual dimension – understood from the perspective of the environmental
   resources available to the individual. This aspect considers environmental resources whose
   burden or deterioration results in increased suicide risk. In this area, it is proposed that we
   distinguish resources:
   • concerning the environment outside the penitentiary unit (e.g., having family
   support, the ability to return to previous work, having housing),
   • involving the environment in the penitentiary unit (e.g., sociometric position in the
   correctional group, nature of the crime, and attitude towards prison staff);

3. The structural dimension – concerning specific organisational and infrastructure aspects
   of the penitentiary unit that may be considered determining factors with regard to the
   effectiveness of counteracting suicide risk (detention/prison facilities, age of the penitentiary
   facility, social and living infrastructure, location in terms of transport connections, capacity);

4. The legal and functional dimension – related to the adequacy of anti-suicide procedures with
   respect to the capacity of penitentiary units and their staff (e.g., conflict between the
   implementation of preventative measures and the numerous tasks resulting from other
   regulations and orders, insufficient technical resources, insufficient staff for the implementation
   of anti-suicide measures);

5. The staff psychosocial dimension – concerning levels of professional stress, burnout, social
   integration among Prison Service officers and staff, opportunities for constructive conflict
   resolution between officers.

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Receiving and Communicating Information From Inmates – Training for Trainee Prison Officers in Secure Facilities

Contributed by the Ecole nationale d’administration pénitentiare Département Gestion et Management

It is a particularly important moment – one that can only succeed if proper communication is established. An interview is a dialogue in which one person seeks to obtain information from another, with the latter’s consent. Proper communication means being able to express your objectives, expectations, and questions sincerely.

This also means creating the right conditions for a calm relationship. Finally, it means knowing how to listen, understand and respect. During the interview, we look at the individual as a whole, his feelings and his environment.

The aim is to analyse the needs, aspirations, values, and representations of individuals. We must not try to influence or change their opinions, except in exceptional circumstances. The supervisor conducting the interview must remain neutral.

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Report and Presentations: Cross-Border Training on Hostage-Taking Situations in Penitentiary Environment (Romania, 2023)

On 22-26 May in Târgu Ocna, the National Correctional Officers Training School hosted a training on Hostage-taking situations in the penitentiary environment  with support from the Netherlands Helsinki (NHC) and EuroPris. As part of the EPTA II project, which is co-funded by the European Union’s Justice Programme, the EPTA network organized several cross-border trainings, where selected EPTA members hosted training in Ireland, Romania, and Croatia (will be hosted in 3-5 October) for participants from other EPTA member organizations.

If you are interested to read about the Cross-Border Training on Restorative Practice in Ireland Portlaoise, 17-18 May 2023, click here.

Click here to view the full report from this Training. (more…)

Report and Presentations: Cross-Border Training on Restorative Practice (Ireland, 2023)

On 17-18 May in Portlaoise, the Irish Prison Service hosted a training on Restorative Practice, with support from the Netherlands Helsinki (NHC) and EuroPris. (more…)

Recommendations for families and professionals when there is a revelation of sexual violence in children and adolescents (English, Spanish, Catalonian, 2022)

These recommendations and guidelines are intended to serve as an initial guideline at the time of disclosure or discovery of sexual violence experienced by children and adolescents (CA) and are focused on two groups: a) the family and people close to the CA and b) the teams of professionals that are accompanying them from the revelation, with a clear purpose of reducing secondary victimization. (more…)

Report: Covid19. Confinement and prison: Crossed views of CIRAP teacher-researchers on the crisis (May, 2020)

Click here to download “Covid19. Confinement et prison : Regards croisés des enseignants-chercheurs du Cirap sur la crise” (Covid19. Confinement and prison: Crossed views of CIRAP teacher-researchers on the crisis). The report is in French.

Report: Inform and predict radicalisation. The case of a prison (Brie, 2020)

Click here to download a report called “Dire et prédire la radicalisation. Le cas de la prison” (Inform and predict radicalisation. The case of a prison) written by Guillaume Brie et Cécile Rambourg, June 2020. The report is written in French.

Research: Meaning of work among supervisory staff: What do the respect modules teach us? (Hernandez, 2020)

Click here to download the research on “Meaning of work among supervisory staff: What do the respect modules teach us?” written by Lucie Hernandez, July 2020.

The article is only available in French, the original title is “Sens du travail chez les personnels de surveillance : Que nous apprennent les modules de respect?”

Respect modules: a metamorphosis of detention? (ENAP, Lucie Hernandez & Paul Mbanzoulou, January 2020)

Click here to view the full report in ENG, ES and FR.

For some years now, methods for managing people in detention have been rethought to be in line with legislative changes (the French “prison law” of 24 November 2009 on the meaning of the sentence; the French law of 15 August 2014 on the purposes of serving a sentence). (more…)

Research Catalogue compiled by Centre for Legal Studies and Specialised Training

This catalogue compiles all research carried out integrally or partially financed by the Centre for Legal Studies and Specialised Training since 1987. (more…)

Report: Organizational reasoning applied to the analysis of care for sex offenders (2019, Brie)

Click here to download “Le raisonnement organisationnel appliqué à l’analyse des prises en charge des délinquants sexuels” (Organizational reasoning applied to the analysis of care for sex offenders), Guillaume Brie, September 2019.

Report: Guidelines regarding recruitment, selection, education, training and professional development of prison and probation staff (2019)

The Guidelines were developed as a follow-up to the 22nd Council of Europe Conference of Directors of Prison and Probation Services (Norway, June 2017). The text was drafted by the Council for Penological Co-operation (PC-CP) between 2018 and 2019. The Guidelines were adopted by the European Committee on Crime Problems (CDPC) at their 76th plenary meeting (25 April 2019).

Click here to view the guidelines.

Report: A preparation programme for release from the remand centre (Hernandez, 2017)

Click here to open the Evaluation d’un programme de préparation à la sortie (A preparation programme for release from the remand centre), written by Lucie Hernandez, 2017. The report is written in French.

Report: New issues related to the treatment of sex offenders. Mutually exclusive dimensions (Brie, 2017)

Click here to view “Recherche-action sur les programmes de prise en charge des auteurs d’infractions à caractère sexuel” (New issues related to the treatment of sex offenders. Mutually exclusive dimensions). Guillaume Brie, 2017. The report is written in French.

Report: Study of applicable obligations in open custody: an analysis of the coercive dimension of probation (Margaine, March 2016)

Click here to download the report Etude des obligations applicables en milieu ouvert : une analyse de la dimension coercitive de la probation (Study of applicable obligations in open custody: an analysis of the coercive dimension of probation), Clément Margaine, March 2016. The report is in French language.

Report: Radicalization. Scientific analyzes versus political uses (Brie & Rambourg, September 2015)

Radicalisation. Analyses scientifique versus usages politiques (Radicalization. Scientific analyzes versus political uses), Guillaume Brie et Cécile Rambourg, September 2015.

Click here to view the report. The report is written in French language.

Report: Feminisation put to the test of prison (Rambourg, 2013)

Click here to view the report La féminisation à l’épreuve de la prison (Feminisation put to the test of prison), written by Cécile Rambourg in April 2013. The report is written in French.

Report: Career paths of prison directors: Conforming to a dominant career model (Bessières, 2013)

Click here to view the report Les trajectoires professionnelles des directeurs des services pénitentiaires : conformation à un modèle dominant de carrière (Career paths of prison directors: Conforming to a dominant career model), written by Laurence Bessières, December 2013. The report is written in French language.

Report: The experience of training to prison trades for disabled workers (Rambourg, 2012)

Click here to view the report on L’expérience de la formation aux métiers pénitentiaires des travailleurs handicapés (The experience of training to prison trades for disabled workers), written in French by Cécile Rambourg, January 2012.