Edyta Pazura-Umecka, PPHS, opened the meeting with a warm welcome and an overview of the day’s agenda, which was followed by Pedro Liberado (IPS), who provided an overview of the MIRAD project’s foundation and approach.
The first panel of the meeting was titled “The ever-changing nature of risk assessment: The need for tailored approaches,” and it was moderated by Josep Garcia Coll, FUNDEA. The panel welcomed lively discussions with Nadya Radkovska, Chair of the Council of Europe’s Council for Penological Cooperation, who shared the current state of play and findings from the Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN) Prisons Working in RA. She discussed the RAN’s perspective on risk assessment, its objectives, some of the most commonly used tools in Europe, and recommendations for future RA-related work.
IPS’s Pedro Liberado and Vania Sampaio presented on assessing radicalisation vulnerability, followed by Darina Sarafova, CSD, who discussed the multidimensional approach to risk assessment on radicalisation and Chafiaa Djouadi, MSD, on the topic of gender mainstreaming and risk assessment.
The event welcomed keynote speeches from Cezary Mecwaldowski, Central Training Center of the Prison Service in Kule, Poland, and Vyacheslav Bosakevych, Department for the Execution Criminal Punishments the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, who shared on obstacles, challenges and best practices in Central-Eastern Europe prison service in relation to VETOs rehabilitation and re-adaptation from the Polish and Ukrainian perspective respectively.
The second panel at the event was well-moderated by Natalia Jarmuek-Troczyska, PPHS, who opened the floor to Magdalena El Ghamari, head of the Cultural Security Laboratory Collegium Civitas, Poland, who spoke on the evolution of the RWE movements in Europe over a 5-year period, followed by Ondrej Kolar, Police Academy of Czech Republic in Prague, Czech Republic, who discussed the signs and challenges in monitoring extremism among inmates.
The third and final panel was moderated by Emilie Gossye, IACFP, and featured Vasileios Giannias and Markos Sangoyan, KMOP, discussing the assessment of NGO trustworthiness and capability. Maria Stoyanova, CSD, and Raquel Venâncio, IPS, presented on improving multi-agency cooperation for successful reintegration of radical offenders, with Stanisław Czerczak, of the CODEX Foundation, an NGO in Poland that raises awareness about radicalisation, closing the session.
Following each panel, event attendees were invited to ask questions, which resulted in fruitful discussions. Overall, the event was a success, with partners leaving re-energised about the project’s future activities.
