Azerbaijan , Baku, Sept. 30 / Trend , G.Dadashova /
Representatives of Turkmenistan's Interior Ministry and the Presidential Administration discussed various aspects related to prison management during a working visit to Spain that concluded in Madrid on Sept.29, the OSCE reported.
The four-day visit was organized by the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat in co-operation with the General Secretariat of Penitentiary Institutions in Spain.
The delegation had an opportunity to visit a penitentiary institution in Madrid, a social integration centre and a special facility for female inmates with small children, where they familiarized themselves with the organization, infrastructure and management of prisons and available health care and rehabilitation programs for inmates.
"We are very pleased to share our experience with our colleagues from Turkmenistan. In our penitentiary system, special importance is attached both to security as well as to providing inmates with an opportunity to engage in constructive activities and education and training programmes which assist the education of the inmate and the development of his or her personality, thus increasing their chances to reintegrate into society upon completion of their sentences," said Virgilio Valero, the General Director of Territorial Co-ordination and Open Environment at the General Secretariat of Penitentiary Institutions in Spain.
The meetings addressed a wide range of issues, including the legal framework of the Spanish prison system, rehabilitation and reintegration programmes as well as social activities available to inmates in the prisons, mechanisms available to protect and promote the rights of inmates, recruitment and training of prison staff and alternative measures to imprisonment.
The visit was aimed at promoting international standards in the penitentiary system.