COPE’s 2017 conference in Naples, Italy, took place on 19 May and was organised in partnership with Bambinisenzasbarre. Through a series of engaging presentations, the conference explored how working to support the child-parent relationship when a parent is imprisoned benefits all parties involved: the child, the imprisoned parent, the caretaker parent, the prison, decision-makers, media, local communities, the general public and society as a whole. It looked at how stakeholders can work together to develop integrated cross-sectoral support systems for children with imprisoned parents, strengthening the child’s well-being and healthy development and the agency of the imprisoned parent, while reducing transgenerational offending; recidivism; crime; and public spending. The Italian model Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was a key focus of the Naples conference.
Alongside Ilina Taneva of the Council of Europe; key speakers included: Chiara Altafin (UN Global Study, European Inter-University Center for Human Rights and Democratisation), Mauro Palma (Prisoners’ Ombudsman, Italy), Filomena Albano (Children’s Ombudswoman, Italy), Gennaro Migliore (Undersecretary of Justice, Italian Parliament) as well as representatives from the penitentiary system, the judiciary and civil society organisations.
A conference outcome report will be published by COPE shortly.
For more information on the conference, as well as the conference programme: Read more.