The pre-defined project “Establishment of a new prison block in Olaine prison, including construction and training staff” - EEZ un Norvēģijas finanšu instrumenti
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The pre-defined project “Establishment of a new prison block in Olaine prison, including construction and training staff”

The Latvian Prison Administration as a Project Promoter in the framework of the Programme LV08 “Reform of the Latvian Correctional Services and Police Detention Centers” of the Norwegian Financial Mechanism will implement the pre-defined project “Establishment of a new prison block in Olaine prison, including construction and training staff”.

The Latvian prison system can be described as overcrowded. In 2011 there were 12 prisons with 6570 inmates. Due to the large number of imprisoned persons the resocialisation process is complicated and a special approach towards various convicts is needed. One of the pressing issues in the last years is the growing number of drug use and drug addicts in prisons. According to the research conducted in 2010 “Drug abuse in Latvian prisons”, 66,1% or 3012 convicts have tried using drugs before imprisonment, while 17,8% or 817 persons have used drugs in prisons. The prison staff confiscates more than a kilo of narcotic and psychotropic substances each year. Narcotics are mostly used through injection, and the hype or needle is used repeatedly. Thus, the risk to become infected with HIV/AIDS, B and C hepatitis is much higher.

Currently, it is complicated to separate drug-addicted persons in prisons, thus allowing to provide the necessary conditions for resocialisation work with the target group. The implementation of the pre-defined project would help to tackle this problem.

It is planned to establish a prison section for drug-addicted persons, where care and resocialization would be provided. Prison staff will undergo training on working with inmates with drug-addiction problems. Another aim of the project is to replace the existing facilities which do not conform to the EU standards, in this way reducing the prison overcrowding.

In the project framework it is planned to build a block in the Olaine Prison territory for 200 inmates with addiction problems, where they could participate in a specially elaborated resocialization programme. Upon completing the resocialisation programme, inmates who will not qualify for release from the prison would return to special drug-free units in other prisons. Those who would qualify would be released on parole. In addition to that, various training programs for prison staff will be organised with the aim to provide additional knowledge on working with people with addictions.

The project partners are:

Total estimated project cost is 8 277 294 EUR, of which 7 035 700 EUR is the funding from the Norwegian Financial Mechanism, and 1 241 594 EUR is Latvian co-financing.

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