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In a powerful step toward more child-sensitive prison practice, two closely linked interactive workshops brought prison officers from across Greece together this December to focus on the rights and well-being of children visiting a parent in prison and to reflect on their own experiences…

Ensuring that children remain protected, supported and meaningfully connected when a parent is imprisoned requires more than isolated actions by individual institutions. It demands coordinated responses across justice, prison, child protection and social services…

An estimated 2.1 million children across Europe have a parent in prison on any given day. Yet we often hear that considering the rights and needs of these children is a “niche” topic within criminal justice discussions, an “extra” issue, peripheral to the main objectives and realities of the prison world…

On June 27, 2025, COPE held its fourth Judicial Roundtable in Lisbon, Portugal, hosted by the Portuguese Supreme Court of Justice. A central goal of the event was to …

On 24 June 2025, COPE held the online seminar “Creative Connections,” organised in collaboration with the Special Health Center for Prisoners of Korydallos, the NGO EPANODOS for the support of released prisoners and the General Secretariat for Crime Prevention Policy. Coordinators Liz Ayre, Arete…

Held at Caritas Community Centre, Malta, this conference centred on understanding and dismantling the stigma faced by children affected by parental imprisonment, exploring how it permeates communities, institutions and systems. The conference brought together individuals with lived experience of parental …

COPE has provided input to the OHCHR study on human rights and the social reintegration of persons released from detention and persons subjected to non-custodial measures. In its submission, COPE’s submission highlights the…

COPE has provided input for the UNHCR resolution 52/12 on mental health and human rights, with valuable contributions from COPE member Dr. Rodrigo J. Carcedo González from Universidad de Salamanca (Spain). Drawing on EU-funded research…

On 14 November 2024, Children of Prisoners Europe (COPE) hosted its third Judicial Roundtable, this time online, continuing its aim of ensuring that children’s rights remain central during a parent’s criminal…

Prisons are generally not designed as child-friendly spaces. Children who visit their imprisoned parents are often exposed to intimidating and harsh environments.

The COPE Network has provided a significant contribution to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child’s General Comment 27…

The 2024 edition of Game with Mum & Dad (GWMD) officially kicked off in Poland on 4 August in Tarnów on prison grounds…