"The MOBi project is a partnership of eight organizations present in five different EU countries. The project is led by CENTRUL PENTRU PROMOVAREA INVATARII PERMANENTE-CPIP and aimed to:•Understand the European contemporary punishment and reintegration picture in terms of society's perception, participation, offenders labelling, return to work or to community, building an assessment tool to measure society ‘culture’ towards punishment and reintegration•To create new, innovative and multidisciplinary approaches to respond to (ex)offenders’ reintegration process•To develop a community engagement methodology to support Criminal Justice System (CJS) organisations, practitioners, and closest stakeholders’ efforts on reinforcing existent community (society) based approaches•To design one transnational training programme, to be executed by key-organisations, aimed at civil society, to ensure that all citizens have access to knowledge of the rehabilitation model at work in their own criminal justice system, and are therefore able to review their own, individual role in the reintegration process•To deliver a Handbook, to support different organisations from Public, Private and Third Sector developing their social responsibility and participation on CJS and offender’s reintegration.The eight organizations partners are Genepi (France), Bremen Senate of Justice and Constitution and Hoppenbank e.V. (Germany), Associazione Antigone (Italy), Direção-Geral de Reinserção e Serviços Prisionais and Aproximar, Cooperativa de Solidariedade Social (Portugal), Center for Promoting Lifelong Learning - CPIP and The Baia Mare Penitentiary (Romania). During the project partners have been developing a set of Intellectual Outputs (IO), namely: IO1: Assessment Tool to screen society’s perceptions on (ex) offenders needs and CJS functionIO2: Assessment Tool to screen offender’s perceptions on society acceptance regarding reintegration processIO3: Methodology on Community engagement in CJSIO4: Training course on community awareness on CJS, (ex)offenders’ rehabilitation & reintegration processesO5: Handbook on community awareness of (ex)offenders’ rehabilitation & reintegration processes. The MOBI process and way of work was to ensure that this package of assessment, methodology and training can and will be replicated in any European Union country with the intended purpose of up-scaling to public policy recommendation and raising awareness of (ex)offenders’ rehabilitation and reintegration processes. It’s destined to civil society organizations in general in order to put their values on action to enhance (ex)offenders’ reintegration process.One of the expected results MOBI has attained is a civil society more informed about prison services operation, different offender populations and strategies to actively participate on offenders’ social reintegration, with special focus on employment issues. Thus, our MOBI results were used by workers and trainers linked to Prison Services who intend to developed key-competences to transmit how the services work, who are the clients, what are their needs, etc. as well as by organizations from Public, Private and Third Sector developing their social responsibility and participation on Criminal Justice System and offender’s reintegration. In this sense, MOBi project was conceived to respond to an evolving need, namely the social inclusion of (ex) offenders and the creation of a collaborative context whereas both prison and community engage into a ""co-working"" mindset focus on making reintegration a lifelong learning process for both offenders and civil society. The project proposes an innovative integrated approach in order to diminish the distance existing between society, in general, and the Criminal Justice System by using the tools of adult education."

The underlyingassumption of the project proposal, in line with the UN Security Council recommendations (Resolution n. 2178, September 2014) and the Commission “European Agenda on Security”2015-2020(28.4.2015, COM(2015) 185 final), is that in order to contrast successfully violent extremism,what is neededis a more balanced response to terrorism,combining repressive (protective) measures with preventive measures, in a comprehensive approach in collaboration withactors of civil society and the communitiesof reference, based on a firm commitment to respecting fundamental rights, promoting integration, cultural dialogue and fighting discrimination. To this end, a better understanding of factors constituting violent radicalisation in Europe is needed, which aims,through a multidisciplinary analysis,to a comprehensive view of the phenomenon, investigatingits root causes, in order to develop appropriate countermeasures, ranging from early detection methodologies to strategies, ways and techniques of counter-narrative, involving LEAs together with experts and civil society actors at local, national and European level. In addition, it is necessary to acknowledge that violent radicalization,especially in the case of jihadist extremism,goesmainly through narratives that: have specific characteristics and contents; use specific communication codes;are addressed to specific audiences; and spread in a multitude of ways, over the Internet, as well as by means of in-person communication exchanges that take place in families, schools, places of worship, local communities, etc. These narratives havebeen proven effective towards vulnerable groups such as young people, detainees, and people craving for revenge after having experienced what they perceive as injustices, either at personal or group level. Furthermore, due to this multifarious background, such extremism is characterised by single or group terrorist acts also reflecting a variety of influences and motivational dr

Every year a number of approx. 30,000 car accidents are taking place in the EU taking the life or severely injuring thousands of citizens. To counteract this phenomenon, European Commission has adopted a document called Policy Orientations 2011-2020 setting itself a target of reducing the number of road deaths by half. The same objective was adopted by the UN to reduce by half the number of deaths by 2030 at the international level. In the same time, the project contributes to other transversal priorities, such as reducing poverty. As we know reducing re-offending could contribute to reducing in poverty among the offenders. One of the main reasons behind the car accidents are: driving without licence, driving under the influence of alcohol and overspending (or dangerous driving). To combat these offences, member states have adopted severe legislation that send offenders with this sort of behaviour under probation supervision or in prisons. In Romania, the proportion of road offenders out of the total number of probationers is 47% in 2018 (NAP, Annual Report 2018). In spite of this huge number of offenders with this kind of offending history, there is no correctional program available that is up to date and evidence based or offender informed at the European level. This is the aim of this project: to take an existing program in Portugal (STOP Responsibility and Safety) and up-date it in line with the research evidence and offender expectations. In order to achieve this aim, the project team will:- undertake a thorough literature review and collection of good practices, - will design a new program - Bringing Safety on the roads - BriSaR. - will pilot it and evaluate it for its impact - will provide training of trainers in three jurisdictions - will manualize both the program and the evaluation tool. The innovative side of the program is that it will take an existing program in Portugal and will up-date it using the research evidence, examples of good practice and the opinion of offenders with road offences history. Another innovation of this project is that it will incorporate the evaluation into the program so the program leaders will be able to collect feedback on their performance as they run the program. It is expected that a number of at least 30 professionals and volunteers and 45 offenders will benefit directly from the program. In the same time, we expect that indirectly a significant number of offenders will benefit from the program once it is developed and tested. Only in Romanian, a number of Aproximar. 47,000 offenders under probation supervision could benefit from this program. By reducing the re-offending among this group of offenders, we expect that the program will contribute to the reduction of car accidents and indirectly to the decrease in the number of deaths on the road, which is the European Commission long term target.

"From 2013 to 2015 a European project was held (in Italy promoted, among others, by the Beniamino Cooperative, in close collaboration with the Slow Food Island Elba Convivium and the Porto Azzurro House of Reclusion). The project which had the title ""Taste of Freedom"" also involved some foreign partners, including Lithuania, Turkey, Portugal and the island of Gran Canaria.From that experience emerged the need to open a reflection on the role of vocational training and work in the prison system and on experiences of local roots as a resource for greater effectiveness of the training system aimed at risky social categories such as that of the detainees. From these assumptions was born the project Cooking for freedom that aims to build and promote training programs in partner countries with the aim of stimulating synergies aimed at increasing the effectiveness of the integration capacity of the prison and training system.The project partners have identified and shared some premises without which it is difficult to think that professional training in prison can become a real opportunity for reintegration:• given the particularity of the reference target, there is the risk that training will become a mere filling activity, with a low rehabilitation and reintegration value;• vocational training activities require the strong support of a network external to the prison institution because only in this way can they be really effective;• often some paths may be affected by the subjective difficulties expressed by the subjects to whom they are addressed, linked to their particular condition and lack of familiarity with structured working contexts;• on many occasions there is a risk of corporate distrust about the potential of the recipients and the effectiveness of the courses;• the possibility, also for young people included in the classical training courses, to integrate their collaboration with institutional realities and experiment in integration paths, can increase empowerment and investment in their training path.Following the analysis and sharing of the main problems identified, concrete objectives of the project are:• create and test models of pilot training courses, built with the collaboration between the prison institution, educational institutions and a wide territorial network of associations and companies that deal with catering and food;• develop strategic skills of qualified personnel in order to achieve integration among the various organizations, to identify the needs of the labor market and achieve the final objective in relation to them;• develop a network, also at EU level, capable of promoting the reintegration of trained prisoners into work;• promote the exchange of best practices between the partnership, reproducible and useful at European level, in order to promote adult learning processes in detention and a more effective collaboration between the prison institution and training institutions;• gathering useful recommendations to support effective labor policies and the inclusion of disadvantaged adults;• promote internships and internships that integrate the presence of subjects coming from classical training courses and adult subjects coming from specific training courses.The project partners were chosen according to different criteria. Some of them participated in the previous project ""Taste of Freedom"" and for this reason they wanted to take part in a new project that somehow was the continuation and deepening (Cooperative Beniamino, Slow Food Elba Island, Turkey, Portugal). Other partners were contacted on the basis of their experiences in prison and in training. In fact, in the context of Cooking for Freedom, Lithuania is also involved, with an association that takes care of reintegrating it to work through the management of a salad restaurant bar in Vilnius. Each partner, however, operates at various levels within the prison institutions of their country of origin.As part of the partnership, the tasks necessary to carry out the project were well distributed according to the skills of each one:- Skills in research and quality control- Ability to contact international institutions to disseminate results- Ability to carry out high quality training for social workers- Ability to disseminate and evaluate the results of the project.In each partner country, dissemination and dissemination initiatives have been organized and the website that collects the experiences made is active. Furthermore, the Guide for Guidelines for the organization of professional courses in prison is being drafted, a goal of the project."

Worldwide more than 10.74 million people are currently being held in penal institutions and the global prison population rate is increasing. Mental illness is prevalent in prison populations, by far exceeding the rate of mental disorders in the general population. Prisoners are also a high-risk group for suicide and self-harm. These mental health issues are exacerbated with age: over 20% of adults aged 60 and over suffer from a mental or neurological disorder. As the world’s population ages rapidly, the number of the elderly in jails and prisons is increasing as well, at an exponential rate of 3 times that of the general prison population. Palliative care (PC) and dying with dignity are considered human rights to those who need essential pain treatment. This topic is even more important considering that the prison population is getting old and that there are negative attitudes about compassionate release. The aim of the project was to increase the response to mental health disorders within prisons and the quality of palliative and end of life care services provided by enhancing the competences of management and frontline staff to address prisoners’ mental health needs and the special needs of older prisoners. The project includes a partnership composed of 8 public and private institutions working in mental health, geriatrics and in corrections. The strategic partnership brings together multi-agency and cross-sectorial agencies (a PC foundation- HCS, 4 prison administrations – DGRSP, ANP, FOD Justitie, a private company specialized in prison staff training & innovation- IPS, a health sciences faculty- UBI, a university hospital- Helse Bergen, and the European representative of prisons and corrections-Europris) to develop new, innovative and integrated approaches to the field of adult education in prison and probation settings. In order to achieve the project objectives, MenACE partnership undertook the following activities: a state of the art and best practices review was made in the fields of mental health, ageism and PC, with a clear focus on these realities in the prison environment (IO1). Particularly, a questionnaire was developed to collect information in the partner countries. The literature review and collection of approaches underpinned the development of the second and third intellectual outputs, namely the training curricula and program (IO2) and the e-learning training course (IO3), addressing the current and future needs of prison staff in 3 key areas of learning: mental health, geriatrics, PC in prison. The integrated training program was designed to be delivered on a blended format, combining an e-learning course with classroom sessions. In parallel, a train the trainer course (IO4) was developed with the aim of ensuring dissemination and sustainability of the proposed approach over time. All outputs were piloted and fined-tuned by the Romanian, Belgian and Portuguese Prison Services. In the end, the partnership delivered a European roadmap with policy recommendations (IO5), that presents transversal and specific proposals regarding staff training, legal framework and services / resources / infrastructure for the 3 areas under analysis: mental health, geriatrics and PC in prison. The following tangible results were achieved during the project: 1 state of the art and best practices report• 1 panel of experts• 1 training toolkit• 1 training guide with detailed competences, skills and indicators• 6 training courses (The essentials of prison health, Mental health in prison, Geriatrics in prison, Palliative care in prison, Staff health and well-being in prison and Dynamic security) •1 learning management system•1 train the trainer course• 1 European roadmap with policy recommendation• 3 course manual• 304 participants to 6 multiplier event • 71 participants in the short term joint staff training events•133 trainees in the piloting of the training program and e-learning course.The project’s results contributed to the development and enhancement of prison staff’s transversal skills. All participants gained new knowledge and tools which are helpful and useful for their everyday work-related challenges and for the effective identification, supervision and care of prisoners. In specific an enhanced capacity of staff to recognize and manage mental health disorders• an improved capacity of staff to identify prisoners at risk of particular distress and anxiety• a greater awareness of age-related needs and challenges regarding social rehabilitation of older inmates• an improved healthcare and palliative care in the targeted prisons• a beneficial impact on the quality of life of prisoners and an improved diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders and age-related diseases in correctional settings. Further, as long-term results, we expect to raise awareness among policy makers about these important challenges that are part of public health.