Description
The need for a project related to trainings promoting non-custodial sentences and probationary measures can be justified by the fact that in Poland perpetrators of crimes are predominantly sentenced to deprivation of liberty with conditional suspension of the penalty execution and short-term deprivation of liberty. The project aims at popularising non-custodial sentences and probationary measures as alternatives to short-term deprivation of liberty and deprivation of liberty with conditional suspension of penalty execution among judges dealing with criminal offences at all procedural stages, prosecutors, organisational units in the Public Prosecutor’s Office, police officers submitting applications for punishment and indictments in summary procedure, Prison Service personnel, professional adult probation officers, representatives of municipal authorities involved in execution of restriction of liberty sentences and community punishments as well as institutions in which penalties are executed.
Summary of project results
During the project implementation training was organized as a result of which beneficiaries obtained 5,743 certificates against 5000 planned in the program agreement (115%) As a result of 63 completed training courses, 519 judges and penitentiary judges, 515 prosecutors, 2,298 probation officers were supported, 570 police officers, 520 officers of the Prison Service and 1 319 employees of self-government bodies. The second result was the technical and IT support of curator teams executing the penalty of restriction of freedom, which was given to 63 computers used to work for professional curators. At the same time, from the data provided by the beneficiary of project no. 7, it appears that the actions taken in connection with its implementation contributed to the more frequent use of alternatives to the penalty of deprivation of liberty. This may be proved by the increase in the share of persons sentenced to alternative sanctions in relation to the penalty of imprisonment (fine and restriction of freedom), which during the implementation of the project increased from 33% to 55.1%.
Summary of bilateral results
As part of bilateral activities, four study visits in Norway were organized during the project implementation. Additional project partner - Akershus Probation Office - prepared meetings with representatives of the Norwegian legal and trial community. Visits also included visiting penitentiaries and a non-governmental organization cooperating with the Norwegian probation. A total of 88 people attended the four visits. The costs of visits from the Partner were reimbursed on the basis of debit notes. The organization of visits from the Polish side consisted in conducting an unlimited tender, aimed at selecting an external entity responsible for the purchase of air tickets, payment of accommodation and insurance. In addition, each group was accompanied by a representative of the Beneficiary responsible for monitoring the visit and organizational assistance for its participants. Two study visits were also organized in Poland for Norwegian professional curators - a total of 12 people. Visits in Warsaw included learning about the Polish probation system, meetings with Polish professional curators, and visiting Warsaw-Mokotów Remand Center. The costs of visits were refunded on the basis of debit notes. Representatives of the project partner also took part in organizational meetings with training lecturers, and then in the evaluation meeting after completing the training. The costs of participation in these meetings have been reimbursed on the basis of a debit note. As part of this activity, one of the conference summarizing the project was also organized.