Today, Director of the Administration for the Enforcement of Penal Sanctions of the Ministry of Justice Dejan Carević and the Network of Organisations for Post-Penal Support in Serbia representative Brankica Tarbuk Janković signed a Memorandum of Cooperation in Post-Penal Admission and Support to Former Convicts.
Mr Carević emphasised that, although employees of the Administration’s Department of Treatment and Alternative Sentencing prepared prisoners for their release (by helping them in the exercise of their rights to personal documents, health care, temporary accommodation, employment, etc.), it was crucial for the Administration to establish formal cooperation with non-governmental organisations and associations which recognised the value of helping former convicts deal with the complexities of re-entering society. He explained that, in modern penal practice, (re-)admission into society was regarded as one form of crime prevention, which clearly relied on the indispensable cooperation between prisons and the local communities in providing organised support to former convicts.
Mrs Tarbuk Janković said that the signing of the Memorandum of Cooperation helped promote the policy and the practice on post-penal admission and re-integration of former convicts into society, which are aligned to their needs.
The said Network comprises some 20 non-governmental organisations which run activities aimed at improving the societal conditions for former convicts.