The 15th meeting of the Council of Europe’s Council for Penological Co-operation (PC-CP) Working Group took place in Strasbourg, 10-12 April 2017, to consider the text of a draft recommendation related to children of imprisoned parents, Document PC-CP (2017)7, making a number of comments and amendments to the text drafted by COPE from the point of view of the best interests of the child. The Working Group thanked the two scientific experts from COPE, Kate Philbrick and Ria Wolleswinkel, for their work.
COPE began working in Strasbourg with the Council of Europe in late January 2017 to draft a Committee of Ministers Recommendation on children with imprisoned parents. A Summary Meeting Report was published following this meeting, an excerpt of which can be found here. The draft Recommendation is based on all aspects of the Italian Memorandum of Understanding that are relevant to prisons, including rights to visits; child-friendly spaces and information; supporting the child-parent relationship; prison officer training; children living with their parents in prison; and monitoring. The Recommendation will be accompanied by a report including responses to a questionnaire drafted by COPE, which has been sent to prison services in the 47 Member States of the Council of Europe.