R4JUST: Training justice professionals to prevent radicalisation in prisons Silvia Bernardo January 24, 2020

R4JUST: Training justice professionals to prevent radicalisation in prisons

The R4JUST project aims to prevent and reduce the risk of radicalisation and violent extremism inside prisons.

The 23rd and 24th of January were marked by the Kick-off Meeting of the R4JUST project “Radicalisation Prevention Competences’ Development Programme for Justice Professionals”.

The consortium gathered in Lisbon to discuss the project’s main goals, such as the implementation of a multi-sectoral approach to prevent radicalisation and violent extremism in prisons, namely through the enhancement of practitioners’ skills (including probation staff, prison staff as well as judges and prosecutors).

R4JUST builds upon and will use a comprehensive radicalisation assessment toolset developed and successfully piloted in the scope of the R2PRIS, besides following the training approach and findings of the INTEGRA and WayOut projects, respectively.

IPS headquarters hosted representatives from the partner organisations, representing diverse areas of intervention. BSAFE LAB – Law Enforcement, Justice and Public Safety Research and Technology Transfer Lab, Beira Interior University (PT) will be leading the consortium as project coordinator, besides co-jointly contributing to the project’s theoretical research with the West University of Timisoara (RO) and the College of Public Administration Bremen (DE). The latter will team-up with IPS_Innovative Prison Systems (PT) to develop a training course on the effectiveness of exit strategies, while IPS and Agenfor International (IT) will also develop training courses on radicalisation prevention for prison, probation and judicial staff.

All project’s Work Packages will benefit from valuable inputs provided by the Federal Public Service of Justice (BE), the Bremen Senate of Justice and Constitution (DE), the Directorate-General for Prison and Probation and Services (PT), as well as the Penitentiary Bucharest Jilava (RO), which will also be key partners during R4JUST’s various piloting activities. Finally, the International Corrections and Prison Association (ICPA, NE) will be leading dissemination activities throughout the project’s lifespan.

If you wish to access further information about R4JUST, please visit the project’s official website.