A programme of psychosocial support to convicted persons has been launched in the Penal Correctional Institution (PCI) in Niš, in a form of anger management workshops. For the first time in the penal enforcement system, workshops are being held online owing to the existing measures for prevention of the coronavirus spread.
What makes this programme different from other anger management workshops organised in PCIs across Serbia in the past, is that it focuses on the training of convicted persons to become trainers of other convicted persons themselves. To date, 7 convicted persons serving in the PCI in Niš have completed their trainers training and proceeded to train 64 fellow inmates in the presence of employees of the Department of Treatment and Alternative Sentencing of the Administration for the Enforcement of Penal Sanctions.
The aim of the programme is to stimulate positive changes in behaviour which had mostly led to crimes being committed. At the same time, the programme may improve the physical and the mental health of the convicted persons. The programme purposefulness also lies in raising the level of the convicted persons’ self-confidence and ability to react better in stressful situations.
Following the Western penal practices on which the work of the Department of Treatment and Alternative Sentencing in Serbian PCIs are based, the Administration for the Enforcement of Penal Sanctions has been implementing the programme for years. The reason being that such method of engagement with convicted persons allows for them to become better re-integrated into society, and reduces the rate of recidivism and criminality in the society.
The said workshops in the PCI in Niš are being organised in cooperation with the local Human Rights Centre and with the financial support from Help—a German non-governmental organisation.