EuroPris

This page contains information on penitentiary establishments and fact sheets on prison conditions as drawn up by Member States’ authorities, providing practitioners with information necessary for the implementation of the EAW and other mutual recognition instruments.

European Organisation of Prison and Correctional Services (EuroPris)

EuroPris is a European network organisation that facilitates cooperation, mutual learning and exchange of good practices of European prison services. The organisation was founded in 2011 by 18 European Prison Services as an organisation of and for practitioners. By 2018 the organisation represents 34 European Prison Services, out of which 26 are from EU countries. Prison Services from all Council of Europe states can become a member of EuroPris.

The organisation stands for the Promotion of Professional Prison Practice in order to improve public safety and security through improved detention standards and practice in Europe, through reduced re-offending and advanced professionalism in the correctional field.

EuroPris works on these goals with the organisation of events that allow for a meaningful sharing, such as expert meetings, workshops and conferences.

EuroPris cooperates with a large number of European organisations that are active in the field of criminal justice, such as the European Prison Education AssociationEuropean Penitentiary Training AcademiesConfederation of European ProbationEuropean Forum of Restorative JusticeChildren of Prisoners Europe, and more.

EuroPris has an observer status at the Council for Penological Cooperation of the Council of Europe.

For further information on previous and current events, materials and presentations please visit EuroPris website where you also can subscribe to the bi-monthly newsletter.

EuroPris Tools

EPIS

The European Prison Information System (EPIS) was created by EuroPris in 2014 to enhance transparency, networking and exchange of best practices among European prison administrations.

EPIS is designed to be a one-stop shop for data related to prisons and corrections across Europe and to provide answers to commonly asked questions, e.g. how many prisons, what types of prisons and prisoner population do exist in a given EU country. Recently, the Council of the EU has decided to use EPIS as the exclusive tool to bring together information on European prison establishments.

EPIS currently contains data of European Prison Services and over 550 prison establishments across Europe.

KMS

Knowledge Management System (KMS) is a Q&A service between prison administrations, currently containing over 1000 responses on 100+ topics related to prison management.

Thanks to KMS, EuroPris can collect responses on policy and operational questions from European jurisdictions and make them available on the website for future reference.

Information on prison conditions in EU countries

To enable prisoners, staff and competent authorities to access information about prisons in the executing country and support informed consent for transfer, EuroPris has created a resource of information sheets about prison conditions.

Through the EuroPris expert group on Framework Decision 909, Member States have been asked to provide information about prison conditions and an overview of topics such as family visits and early release arrangements.

EU Framework Decision 2008/909/JHA

EuroPris expert group on Framework Decision 909

The EuroPris expert group on the transfer of prisoners was established in 2012 to assist members with the implementation of EU Framework Decision 2008/909/JHA. Since then, the group has been meeting annually to exchange knowledge and information relating to transfers.

Please find here the expert group members, meeting reports and all documents developed by the group.

Resource book on Framework Decision 909 (2017)

The Resource book on FD 909 has been developed in conjunction with the EuroPris expert group on Framework Decision 909. It is designed to be used by competent authorities to assist in completing transfers of sentenced prisoners.

Information contained in this Resource book brings together practical recommendations, best practices and resources developed to assist with the transfer of sentenced prisoners.

Prisoner Transfer Information Form

The EuroPris expert group also developed a Prisoner Transfer Information Form, a checklist to accompany prisoners to another Member State. The document is issued by the issuing State with basic personal, sentencing and medical details, risks and transfer details. The Form (and optional attachments) travels with the prisoner to the executing state.

Information with respect to the Prisoner Transfer Information Form can be found here.

Last update: 01/02/2020

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