The Penitentiary Service of the Ministry of Justice of Azerbaijan and the Institute of Law and Human Rights collaborated to conduct training sessions for employees of Penitentiary Institutions No. 6 on May 24th and No. 10 on May 30th.

The trainings were organized in order to increase attention to the importance of protecting the prisoners’ rights, treating them in accordance with their health conditions, and the importance of access to the use of necessary needs without any discrimination.

The speeches emphasized that the basis of an exemplary penitentiary system should be professionally trained service staff. The educational training sessions provided by the Institute will encourage service staff to take their profession more seriously. The training sessions also highlighted the importance of the attention and care provided by the state to the prisoners. Vusala Muradkhanli, head of the Human Rights Training and Expertise Department of the Institute, noted that these trainings will have a positive impact on the participants to provide effective service in their professional activities. Then, trainers-experts of the Institute delivered presentations on the topics: “Standards of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture”, “UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners” and “Rights of Prisoners in the Legislation of the Republic of Azerbaijan”.

At the training sessions the participants discussed issues of decent treatment of prison staff with prisoners when performing their work functions, compliance with the rules of conduct towards prisoners, issues of eliminating problems that arise when solving their social concerns, as well as providing first medical aid to prisoners, meeting their spiritual needs and other relevant topics. During the discussions, the Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture's minimum standards for living conditions in prisons were also mentioned.

In total, 41 service employees were awarded with certificates