The Hungarian Helsinki Committee in cooperation with the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Fundamental and Human Rights, Associazione Antigone and the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee has been hosting a virtual Conference on ‘Prison Monitoring Methodologies for National Preventive Mechanisms’ for EU NPMs, prison experts and researchers. The event is part of the EU Project ‘Working towards harmonized detention standards in the EU – the role of NPMs’ for which the project consortium has conducted extensive research on prison standards and how to monitor different thematic areas. The results were used to draft four handbooks for NPMs as practical guidance on monitoring: (1) request and complaint procedures, (2) prison violence, (3) persons and groups in situations of vulnerability and (4) solitary confinement.

The conference focused on presenting the draft handbooks with an emphasis on discussing the practical monitoring of the respective topics. All NPMs and participants have been invited to provide concrete feedback on the draft, share promising practices, and discuss the challenges faced while carrying out the relevant monitoring. The feedback given at the Conference will be used to enhance the handbooks’ practical relevance as monitoring tools for NPMs.

For further reading on the subject of prison monitoring and the prevention of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment visit the Atlas of Torture Database.