Stimulating Discussions on Prison Staff Motivation at the EPTA Annual Conference in Romania

From 18-20 June, the Annual Conference of the European Penitentiary Training Academies (EPTA) Network took place in Slanic Moldova, Romania. Participants from EPTA’s 27 member countries were able to share experiences and best practices during workshops on staff motivation and retention and visited the Romanian National Correctional Officers’ Training School in Tîrgu Ocna.

Discussions of this year’s conference revolved around how to best prepare, motivate and support prison staff working in often high-pressure and complicated environments. Workshops, organized by EPTA members themselves, included themes such as mentoring for starting prison officers, moral case deliberation, stress management, psychological well-being and staff recruitment.

NHC implements the EPTA project in cooperation with Europris, Ecole Nationale d’Administration Penitenitaire (France), Irish Prison Service College, Swedish Prison and Probation Service, Centralny Ośrodek Szkolenia Służby Więziennej (Poland) and National School for Training of Prison Agents (Romania). and the penitentiary training academies from France, Ireland, Sweden and Romania. This project is funded by the European Union’s Justice Programme and aims to tackle gaps in cross-border cooperation by stimulating participation and exchange within the network itself, which will allow for existing and future European members to profit from the results. Every year, we see more penitentiary training academies join the network and contribute to growing cooperation and conversations across Europe’s prison systems. This year, the penitentiary training academies from Slovakia and Bulgaria became EPTA’s newest members.

Please click here to learn more about the EPTA network or here for more information about NHC’s EPTA project.