We selected three countries to be visited by the CPT during 2025: Spain, Romania and Belgium. We created a survey and interview guides in English, Romanian, Spanish, Flemish and French with intensive translation support as well as assistance from local academics and NGOs to ensure account was taken of linguistic and local contexts. We used these to assess the awareness levels, experiences, and opinions of the CPT and, critically, to find out what would be the best way for people in prison to get information about the CPT. We then took these findings and created three sets of materials designed to support improved awareness and understanding of the CPT. We also worked with experts on the CPT and prisons to help us. We developed a handout for people in prison in all these languages, a TV presentation for in-prison TV cells, and an in-person workshop on the CPT. We then assessed by surveys and interviews if people in prison felt more informed about the CPT and we found they did. We have made these materials openly accessible so that any prison system or monitoring body can use them to raise awareness of the CPT. This is important as ensuring people in prison are aware of human rights protections and monitoring bodies can support the protection of rights in prison as well as better engagement between people in prison and oversight bodies.
We also asked prison staff who were responsible for a visit from the CPT about their views and experiences of preparing for a CPT visit. PRILA showed that this preparation can be time-consuming, stressful, and sometimes a bit unknown and we wanted to create materials to support staff in this preparation. We created a survey and interview guide for prison staff managing the CPT visit in Spain, Romania and Belgium to assess their expectations, feelings and experiences of the CPT. We then created an online workshop for staff from all three countries to discuss the CPT visits they experienced. We created a briefing paper for staff on a visit from the CPT.
It was decided to make the materials we created Open Access to ensure the maximum societal benefit as any prison service or other body can use them to support awareness raising about the CPT. We can also offer training to prison systems for people in prison or staff based on our materials and what we found.
