A study visit for the staff of the Probation Service and the Ministry of Justice of Armenia took place in Prague, Czech Republic where they met with the representatives of the Probation and Mediation Service, Prison Service and several non-governmental organisations.

During the visit, the members of the delegation had a number of meetings with officials in the field of probation which enabled them to acquire a better understanding of a number of matters, such as pre-sentence and pre-release reports, mediation and juvenile diversion programme, risk and needs assessment tool, types of rehabilitations programmes implemented for the probation beneficiaries, in-service training programme of probation staff, as well as lessons learned from the use of e-monitoring system and e-case management system in Czech Republic.

Within the framework of the visit, members of the delegation also visited Rubikon and Romodrom , non-governmental organisations actively cooperating with the Probation and Mediation Service of Czech Republic (), where active discussions and exchange of experience on lessons learned as well as on the challenges took place. A site tour was organised at the Rubikon’s Community Centre and Garden Kotlaska.

The delegation also met with representatives of the Czech Prison Service and discuss such issues as the work of the Vocational Training Centres within the prison system (inmate education and its features, educational programmes, finding a job with prison service education, cooperation with external entities, etc.), inmate treatment programmes, rehabilitation programmes, preparation for release, cooperation with the Czech Probation and Mediation Service and cooperation with NGOs.

It is expected that the information received throughout the visit will assist the Probation Service of Armenia to further advance and introduce and implement successfully new tools.

The study visit took place on 7-10 November 2022 in the framework of the Project “Support the scaling-up of the Probation Service in Armenia” funded within the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Armenia 2019-2022.

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