Workshop “Rehabilitation Plan, Preparation for release and Reintegration”

Details
Published: May 11, 2022
Opening of the workshop. From right to left: Imed Derouiche, Prosecutor General and Director of the Judiciary at the Tunisian Ministry of Justice; Cherif Snoussi, Head of the General Directorate of Prisons and Rehabilitation; Mohamed Abidi, Head of the IRZ's Africa Project Area (photo: IRZ)
Opening of the workshop. From right to left: Imed Derouiche, Prosecutor General and Director of the Judiciary at the Tunisian Ministry of Justice; Cherif Snoussi, Head of the General Directorate of Prisons and Rehabilitation; Mohamed Abidi, Head of the IRZ's Africa Project Area (photo: IRZ)
Tunisia

The IRZ organised a face-to-face workshop in Tunis from 8-9 March 2022 with the Tunisian Ministry of Justice and the Tunisian penitentiary authorities (Comité Général des Prisons et de la Rééducation/CGPR) on the theme “Rehabilitation Plan, Preparation for release and Reintegration”.

The workshop was designed as exchange of experience on potential procedures to establish individual rehabilitation plans, to determine individual therapy programmes for prisoners, to prepare prisoners for release (transition management) and to discuss the methodology for successful reintegration of offenders after their release from prison.

The Tunisian partners were represented at a high level by Mr Imed Derouiche, Prosecutor General and Director of the Judiciary at the Tunisian Ministry of Justice and Mr Cherif Snoussi, Head of the General Directorate of Prisons and Rehabilitation for the Tunisian penitentiary authorities.

In accordance with the theme of the workshop, the Tunisian contingent was represented by the professional groups involved in prison planning, the preparation of prisoners for release and the reintegration of inmates released from prison. Participants from the penitentiary judiciary, the legal profession and sociologists, psychologists and representatives from the Ministry of Justice also attended the workshop along with members of the penitentiary authorities and the prison service.

The German team comprised the following experts:

  • Kai Abraham, Correctional Officer at the Justizvollzugsanstalt für Frauen, Berlin (women’s correctional facility)
  • Pascal Décarpes, Criminologist and international advisor to the European Union on the penitentiary system and resocialisation

The Tunisian partner institutions were represented by the following experts:

  • Mounir Ben Nsir, General Advisor, penitentiary authority
  • Tarek Elfanni, General Advisor, penitentiary authority
  • Issemeddine El Amine, General Advisor, penitentiary authority
  • Mohamed Miled, General Advisor, penitentiary authority

The penal and prison legislation in Tunisia has undergone a fundamental and comprehensive process of reform since 2014. In terms of the penitentiary system, the focus is on improving prison conditions, implementing international human rights standards and strengthening the resocialisation measures for released offenders. Successful reintegration of released prisoners should contribute to reducing the recidivism rate and thus counteract the steadily growing overcrowding of prisons in Tunisia.

The IRZ is contributing to this reform process through consultations which aim to humanise the penal system in the long term.