On 19th August Director General of Latvian Prison Administration (LPA) Ilona Spure, representatives of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Latvia, as well as Norway Grants project* team met with the director of International Unit of the Directorate of Norwegian Correctional Service Kim Ekhaugen and senior adviser Kristin Franklin Saunes.
During the meeting, Norwegian cooperation partners were informed of progress of LPA project implementation, as well as the approved visualisation of the new Training Centre.
Kim Ekhaugen emphasized the importance of new Training Centre and personnel development: “It is essential that the work of Latvian correctional services when interacting with prisoners is based on professionalism, understanding of the inmates’ situation, formation of positive relationships, positive communication and mutual interaction, understanding and consistency in the performance of official duties. In order to be able to further develop this approach and achieve high results, the most important thing is the level of professional qualification and professional growth of the personnel in Latvian imprisonment places.”
Ilona Spure: “We are satisfied with the progress of the project and cannot wait for the new Training Centre to be ready, where we will be able to implement the new training programmes, which are currently being developed. Our goal is the training and development of qualified, professional and psychologically resilient personnel in order to effectively implement sentence execution policy.”
It is planned that the Training Centre will have premises for correctional staff to acquire theoretical knowledge, conference hall, rooms for group lessons, computer class, sports facilities, dormitory, library, and will provide home for the LPA museum. The aim of the project is to provide correctional service personnel with education appropriate for modern sentence execution.
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You can learn more about the Norway Grants 2014-2021 period programme by visiting www.norwaygrants.lv
*The Latvian Prison Administration project "Establishment of Training Centre infrastructure and model prison blocks for training opportunities in the Olaine prison territory" No. 1-6.4/2-2019 is implemented within the framework of the Norway Grants 2014–2021 period programme "Correctional Services".