The European Union-funded project which supported the establishment of a well-structured standard training system for prison staff will be closed in Ankara on 17 March. The event will be attended by the Deputy Minister of Justice Mr Yakup Mogul, General Director of Criminal Sanctions Agency in Finland Mr Arto Kujala and Deputy Head of the European Union Delegation to Turkey Ms Eleftheria Pertzinidou.

What is the current situation?

There are 384 prisons and 140 probation offices in Turkey. The total number of staff employed in prisons and probation service is around 73.000. The pre-service and in-service training activities of all staff are being carried out in 5 different staff training centers in Ankara, İstanbul, Erzurum, Kahramanmaraş and Denizli. The increased number of staff hired and their training needs require improvement of the training system with the aim of ensuring that Turkish prison staff have high standards in their care for prisoners.

What has been achieved as a result of the project?

It is universally accepted that the prison staff training centers play a crucial role in improving the staff's attitude towards the inmates. With an EU contribution of € 2 million, the project established a well-structured standard training system to ensure the provision of training of the same quality in all 5 personnel training centers of the penal institutions of Turkey. A human resources management system has been developed in these training centers with the aim of ensuring high quality lecturers/trainers.  The project provided in year 2021 training to a number of 12.601 personel  prisons staff.

The project has been implemented together with the Finnish Criminal Sanctions Agency and the Estonian Academy of Security Sciences in a twinning modality.

Date/ Time: 17 March 2022, 10:00 a.m.

Venue:         Sheraton Hotel, Ankara

For more information, please contact the Delegation:

Gamze Kosekahya Pazarci, Tel: (+90 312) 459 87 00; E-mail: gamze.kosekahya@eeas.europa.eu

For press enquiries please contact:

Miray Akdag, Press Officer for the Delegation of European Union to Turkey

Tel: 0312 4598700,

E-mail: miray.akdag@eeas.europa.eu