Strengthening the rehabilitation of prisoners through treatment programmes
The project aims to improve services for prisoners through the development of additional intervention programmes which are an important precondition for the reintegration of convicts back into society after their release.
This will be achieved through the implementation of the following crucial activities of the project:
- Motivation programme for convicts who lack the motivation to attend professional interventions. The motivation programme will serve as a gateway for the preparation of convicts to attend other specialized treatment/intervention programmes.
- Professional care for drug-abusing inmates. The objective of the programme is to assure stabilization of drug-abusers after their admission to prison, improvement of their health condition, the commencement of follow-up care in the community, protection of public health and decrease in relapse rates.
- Programme for fathers who need help with strengthening their family ties. By continuous work with incarcerated fathers and their families, the programme aims to ensure that fathers remain attentive to their parental roles and that their parental rights and obligations are maintained at the time of their imprisonment.
As part of the project, pilot verification will take place in some prisons.
The project will be implemented in cooperation with experienced Norwegian partners:
- KRUS – University College of Norwegian Correctional Service, methodologist of the Motivation programme and Father´s program,
- Bastøy Prison – expertise in drug addiction treatment for inmates and usage of proven programs for this target group,
- Illa Prison and Detention Facility – long term validation of the Motivator program,
- Norwegian Correctional Service – Region South – extensive experience with the aforementioned programs.
After three years of thorough preparations, negotiations and discussions with the Norwegian partners, the European Commission and the programme facilitator represented by the Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic, a grant application was approved for the project titled „Strengthening the rehabilitation of prisoners through treatment“ on February 14th, 2020. Financed by the Norwegian funds 2014 – 2021 and having a budget of more than 40 million CZK, the project was implemented on March 1st, 2020.
This four-year project focuses on the extension of services for convicts which are commonly used in the Norwegian prison system and still absent in the Czech Republic. These services include the Motivational Programme (Motivator) and the Father’s Programme (Pappaprogram). Additionally, three drug treatment programmes will be developed based on the Norwegian models. There will be eleven prisons involved in the project where the programs will be piloted. The manuals of the Norwegian programmes Motivator and Pappaprogram are currently being translated into the Czech language. Starting in autumn, two study trips to Norwegian prisons will be taken, where the aforementioned programmes have already been implemented. Work on the drug treatment programmes, as well as the analyses of the possibility of remodelling prison rooms, will begin soon. In addition, an opening conference and workshop are being prepared. They will be held in Prague with the participation of Norwegian experts.
We sincerely believe that the above-mentioned activities will help to improve the treatment of inmates and subsequently reduce recidivism.