best practices: corrections in · web viewin the early days of a post-conflict setting some...

Department of Peacekeeping OperationsBest Practice Guidelines

EXECUTIVE CORRECTIONS MANAGEMENT

IN

UNITED NATIONSPEACEKEEPING

VOLUME ONE:HEADQUARTERS SUPPORT

FOR CORRECTIONS

Version 1.0 (June 2003)

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Table of Contents

INTRODUCTIONRationale – Why a corrections role in peacekeeping?..........................................................................4Using These Guidelines........................................................................................................................ 4

VOLUME ONE: HEADQUARTERS SUPPORT FOR CORRECTIONS MANAGEMENT........................61. Mission planning.......................................................................................................................... 6

a) Technical Assessment..............................................................................................................................6(b) Concept of Operations..............................................................................................................................8(c) Mission Resources....................................................................................................................................8

2. Mission deployment....................................................................................................................12(a) Recruitment support................................................................................................................................12(b) Briefing and ongoing advisory support....................................................................................................12

VOLUME TWO: EXECUTIVE CORRECTIONS IN THE FIELD..............................................................151. Guiding Principles...................................................................................................................... 152. Situation Analysis....................................................................................................................... 15

(a) Prison Population Information.................................................................................................................16(b) Existing Legal Framework.......................................................................................................................16(c) Existing Institutional Structures...............................................................................................................17(d) Infrastructure and Utilities........................................................................................................................18(e) Assessing the Funding Situation.............................................................................................................19

3. Institutional Framework, Policies and Procedures......................................................................21(a) Legislation, Standards and Oversight Mechanisms................................................................................21(b) Policy Development.................................................................................................................................22(c) Standard Operating Procedures..............................................................................................................23

4. Financial Planning and Resource Mobilisation.......................................................................25(a) Local Resources......................................................................................................................................25(b) Donors.....................................................................................................................................................26(c) UN Resources.........................................................................................................................................27

5. Personnel Issues........................................................................................................................ 29(a) Staffing Structure.....................................................................................................................................29(b) Recruitment Strategies and Procedures.................................................................................................30(c) Promotion Management..........................................................................................................................31(d) Code of Conduct.....................................................................................................................................32(d) Disciplinary Issues...................................................................................................................................32

6. Training...................................................................................................................................... 33(a) Training Needs Analysis and competency based training.......................................................................33(b) Curriculum Development and Programme Structure..............................................................................33(c) Facilities and training delivery.................................................................................................................34(d) Partner Agencies.....................................................................................................................................34

7. Prisoner Management................................................................................................................35(a) Cultural and Post-Conflict Issues............................................................................................................35(b) Catering...................................................................................................................................................35(c) Medical and Psychiatric Services............................................................................................................35(d) Family Visits............................................................................................................................................36(e) Deaths.....................................................................................................................................................36

8. Special Prisoner Categories.......................................................................................................37(a) Pre-trial Detainees...................................................................................................................................37

Peacekeeping Best Practices – Executive Corrections Management2

DRAFT FOR COMMENT(b) Minority Groups (Women, Juveniles and Mentally Ill).............................................................................37(c) War Crimes / Organised Crime / Other High Risk Prisoners...................................................................37

9. Emergency Management...........................................................................................................38(a) Emergency Policy and Procedures.........................................................................................................38(b) Specialist Units........................................................................................................................................38(c) Intelligence..............................................................................................................................................38

10. Prisoner Programmes............................................................................................................39(a) Education................................................................................................................................................39(b) Employment............................................................................................................................................39(c) Religion...................................................................................................................................................39

11. Transition and Exit Strategy...................................................................................................40(a) Transition planning..................................................................................................................................40(b) Co-location, Shadowing and Mentoring..................................................................................................40(c) Operational Hand-over............................................................................................................................41(d) Withdrawal of International Staff.............................................................................................................42

ANNEX 1: CASE STUDIES................................................................................................................... 44

ANNEX 2: TOOLBOX............................................................................................................................ 45


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INTRODUCTION

Rationale – Why a corrections role in peacekeeping?

i. An effective DPKO capacity to deliver correctional services is important to support peace building in certain post-conflict situations, in particular in situations where the United Nations is considering rule of law interventions as part of a peace operation.

Successful UN rule of law interventions in peace operations require robust, integrated, activities across the three fields of police, judiciary and corrections. The establishment of a DPKO capacity to reform, strengthen, build and manage prisons services will be integral to successful UN criminal justice and law enforcement interventions in post-conflict settings in the future.

ii. An open and transparent corrections system that incarcerates prisoners in safe, humane and secure conditions and which is built on principles of fundamental human rights, equality before the law and the dignity of individuals is a crucial ingredient in establishing the rule of law. Without a working and sustainable corrections capacity that meets minimum international standards, the results of police and judicial interventions are unlikely to be optimized and may even be undermined. UN operations involving interventions in law enforcement and the judiciary should consider - from the outset - the need for support to correctional services as part of the criminal justice or rule of law component of the mission.

iii. Corrections activities have been a feature of three UN missions to date. UNTAET and UNMIK are examples of a UN executive management role in corrections, while UNAMA has played a non-executive strategic advisory role on corrections.

Using These Guidelines

iv. This document provides current best practice guidance for UN operations mandated with the executive responsibility to establish, manage and hand-over (to national or other international structures) an operational prison service in a post-conflict territory. This document is not, however, a “cookbook” for corrections in UN peace missions. The premise of this document is that the conditions specific to the peace mission will be the primary determinant of the course of events. The document describes a range of options and issues to be considered and pitfalls to be watched for. It provides operational guidance distilled from the UNTAET and UNMIK experiences. It is a reference tool for DPKO managers, mission planners and desk officers in headquarters and for mission-based operational managers and field officers involved with corrections in UN peacekeeping.

v. The document is structured in two volumes with two annexes:

Volume One proposes best practice approaches and considerations for DPKO Headquarters in planning and supporting corrections activities on the ground. The


DRAFT FOR COMMENTsection provides recommended steps and issues arising during the planning, deployment and management of a UN executive corrections role. It focuses on Headquarters activities, resources and procedures required to support successful field corrections activities. This section is primarily for use by planners and corrections advisors at UN Headquarters.

Volume Two outlines current best practice in the establishment, management and hand-over of a sustainable correctional service within a host territory. This section examines key facets of establishing minimum international corrections standards within a post-conflict environment, managing facilities on the ground, capacity building, as well as considerations for transition and hand-over to local authorities or other institutions. It focuses on the steps required to establish and consolidate national structures that will be left behind. This section is primarily for senior corrections personnel and operational managers in the field and should be read in conjunction with the ICPA ‘Practical Guidelines’ and ICPS ‘Human Rights Approach to Prison Management’

Annex I provides short chronologies of the UNTAET and UNMIK experiences outlining the development of prison services in both missions.

Annex II is a toolbox of practices and tools developed or adopted in UNMIK and UNTAET, including Standard Operating Procedures, administration and management resources, database formats, and other systems. Annex II also contains documents from other relevant sources that will help guide the development of prison services in post-conflict settings.

vi. This is a “living document” and, as such, should be updated regularly. The UNMIK and UNAMA corrections experiences are ongoing and developments in these missions will continue to inform the refinement of this best practices document. The latter role will be examined in a separate lessons learned and best practices paper focusing on UN advisory roles in corrections, building on the UNAMA experience.


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VOLUME ONE: HEADQUARTERS SUPPORT FOR CORRECTIONS MANAGEMENT

Volume One focuses on the role of DPKO Headquarters in supporting corrections activities within UN peace operations. It provides best practice principles and objectives for personnel involved in planning, deploying and supporting UN executive corrections activities from Headquarters.

1. Mission planning

1. The success of corrections as a component of a UN peace operation begins with the establishment of a clear and achievable Security Council mandate to undertake such activities within a mission. Where appropriate and where possible, DPKO should seek a mandate with a clear reference to a corrections component and explicit objectives for the component that have a clear relationship to the achievement of the overall mandate. This will assist in obtaining sufficient start-up resources, profile and ongoing mission support to help achieve corrections objectives in the operation. As a corrections mandate emerges for a prospective mission, UNHQs (through an IMTF or other planning structures) should incorporate planning for an appropriate and realistic corrections component and seek sufficient resources for its work. It is important that DPKO corrections advisor(s) provide substantive input to the Headquarters planning process for missions with a rule of law component, particularly with regard to three key aspects of corrections mission planning:

a) Technical Assessmentb) Concept of Operationsc) Mission resources

Each of these is considered in further detail below.

a) Technical Assessment

2. To support corrections planning, a rapid technical field assessment mission should be considered. Such a mission should preferably include all of the main actors who are considered likely to play substantive roles in-country in relation to corrections (such as bilateral donors, NGOs, agencies). In many cases donor governments may send their own technical teams to assess the situation – DPKO thus may not need to initiate an assessment mission, however, a DPKO representative should seek to be a key team member if a role in corrections is envisaged for the UN mission. If they can be readily identified, key local prison personnel should also be included as part of the team to provide a local frame of reference and historical information. Local prison experts or personnel should not be relied on merely as interpreters but as substantive team members.


DRAFT FOR COMMENTThe technical assessment should seek to: Provide an overall assessment of the context for corrections in the territory Identify and prioritize requirements for immediate interventions and long term

needs in the local corrections system Recommend appropriate inputs from DPKO (and others) and define the required

inputs (personnel, in-kind equipment provision, cash financing etc) in as much detail as possible.

3. Where possible, the composition of a corrections assessment team would ideally include the following skills, which would need to be drawn from a range of organizations, not just UN personnel:

Corrections experts (including a mix of personnel able to advise on operations, administration and senior management issues)

Engineering / Logistics Personnel and training Specialist services where appropriate (e.g. health, legal specialists) Local prison personnel

4. Although the conduct of each assessment will vary considerably depending on local conditions and the key players involved, a broad approach is outlined below. Immediately following the field visit, a technical needs assessment should be produced and this report should be integrated into planning at UN Headquarters and should be a consideration in preparing budget documents for the corrections component of the mission. The assessment report should also form part of the deployment documentation prepared for personnel arriving in the mission theatre to provide an understanding of the starting point for the intervention. The framework produced in the technical assessment will not only support planning but will also be the basis for a more systematic analysis of the situation on the ground once mission personnel start arriving in the mission areas. Volume 2 covers this in more detail under the Situation Analysis section.

Important issues to be assessed in a technical assessment include: The legal framework and applicable law Prior corrections structures, practices and procedures National demographic information, customs, traditions and recent history (including

conflict) affecting corrections activities Status of prison facilities, supporting infrastructure and equipment Size and profile of existing prison population Status of headquarters and other administrative apparatus Existing local corrections capacity including availability for employment Training needs analysis of any existing corrections personnel Linkages between corrections and other proposed interventions by international

community (e.g. CivPol, judicial affairs, military peacekeepers) Involvement of other international actors (e.g. donors, NGOs, military, police, other

international organizations) and coordination frameworks.


DRAFT FOR COMMENT(b) Concept of Operations

5. The DPKO corrections advisor(s) should assist mission planners by drawing up a succinct Concept of Operations for corrections within the prospective mission. This will be an internal document designed to guide planning, budgeting and to assist the first staff arriving in the mission area. The Concept of Operations could draw on:

‘A Human Rights Approach to Prison Management’, International Centre for Prison Studies, (Appendix x)

‘Practical Guidelines for the Establishment of Correctional Services within United Nations Peace Operations’ (appendix x)

Findings of field assessments (either DPKO or other), where these have been possible Guidance in Volume 2 of this document

6. The Concept of Operations should be concise and should present a clear and convincing rationale for the importance of corrections in a mission with a rule of law component. This rationale should be based on lessons learned about the need for linkage to other rule of law components as well as on the specific conditions of corrections in the territory in question.

To the extent possible, the initial Concept of Operations should provide: An outline work plan for corrections in the mission; Estimated timelines for activities contained in the work plan; and Proposed coordination with other actors.

7. The Concept of Operations should contain an analysis of what other actors, both UN and non-UN, are operational in corrections activities and an assessment of how any proposed DPKO activities will be coordinated with these other actors. The Concept of Operations will necessarily be modified once the mission is underway and field personnel begin the work, but the initial Concept should outline a ‘best guess’ framework for dealing with corrections in the proposed mission and will necessarily evolve and change as planning continues and field implementation begins.

(c) Mission Resources

8. Based on the Concept of Operations and the initial estimate of resources required to execute it, the DPKO corrections advisor(s) should help mission planners prepare a resource plan for corrections to include in the budget proposal for the proposed mission. The resource plan should identify what is required from the Assessed Contributions budget of the UN peacekeeping mission and should be a calculation based the estimated total number of personnel, equipment and other inputs needed to perform the outlined work plan. It should factor in any known support for corrections from voluntary contributions sources. Major areas to be considered should include: Personnel, Equipment and Language Support.

Personnel

9. Ensuring the right number of the right people is crucial to mission success. The initial request for personnel requirements should include not only numbers and levels of posts but also an assessment of what sort of contracting arrangements would be appropriate for particular posts. The final corrections staffing plans for UNMIK and UNTAET are attached as an indication of the numbers of personnel required for those missions (Annex xx). Following


DRAFT FOR COMMENTan assessment of the overall staffing profile, specific job descriptions should be prepared and submitted as an appendix to the Budget submission. Examples of job descriptions can be found in Annex xx of this document. DPKO’s corrections advisor(s) should seek to have the classification of corrections posts agreed with PMSS and OHRM, in advance of mission deployment based on standard UN assessments of the skills and experience required to perform given functions. This should help to expedite recruitment processes.

The request for corrections personnel should take into account different contractual arrangements and types of personnel such as:

UN civilian contracts (both international and local) Experts on Mission UNVs SSA consultancy contracts. Language support staff Gratis personnel

10. Each of these contracting arrangements has different benefits and drawbacks, as outlined briefly below.

11. UN International Civilian Posts. These provide possibly the greatest potential for longer-term engagement of personnel and are arguably the most appropriate posts for corrections personnel (uniformed and non uniformed) appointed to senior positions and positions which benefit from the stability this creates. In the past rapid recruitment and deployment of suitably qualified civilians in specialized fields has been difficult to achieve. Ideally, civilian post classifications will have already been pre-cleared and classified. International civilian posts are costly to the Organization and there may be a reluctance to authorise large numbers of international civilians. In difficult missions, civilians receive ORB leave arrangements (5 days in every three months where working 6 days a week). Managers should be aware of this in developing work plans.

12. Experts on Mission (CivPol). UN CivPol posts have been allocated for corrections purposes in previous missions, usually because positions for corrections were not created in the mission planning phase. It has essentially been used as a stop-gap measure. It has also been seen as both necessary and appropriate to use CivPol in maximum security prisons to carry out external security functions (including management of entry and exit as well as prisoner escorts to courts, hospitals and between prisons). The use of CivPol posts for corrections duties does, however, entail that UN police are diverted from policing duties. This is not ideal for either the Police Commissioner (who loses police capacity) or for corrections (as police rarely have specialized corrections backgrounds). Issues of discipline and the carrying of weapons have also been issues of particular concern in incorporating CivPol into corrections in the past. If CivPol are used in corrections roles, it is necessary that CivPol provide a full time Police Coordinator who has responsibility for the administration arrangements of the CivPol and liaison with prison management and that corrections senior management have responsibility for day to day management of the police. The details of the arrangement should be reflected in a formal agreement between the Police Commissioner and the international head of corrections/ head of justice. It should be noted that CivPol take leave on CTO arrangements, which entails, 30 days on, 7 days off.

13. Experts on Mission (Corrections). At the start of the mission, consideration should be given to developing a category of experts on mission specifically for corrections personnel


DRAFT FOR COMMENTseconded from governments in uniformed and non uniformed corrections positions. This could broadly parallel the terms and conditions under which CivPol are contracted. This should help obviate confusion over status and entitlements and reporting lines that has arisen in the past when corrections officers have been recruited on CivPol positions in the mission. This ‘experts on mission’ status is a particularly suitable arrangement for mid-level corrections positions. Individuals or contingents could all be recruited on identical conditions, which would be agreed with the contributing countries and services in advance of the mission. This approach would allow greater flexibility in tailoring service conditions to the needs in the field such as timeframes for deployment and leave arrangements. This approach presupposes that Member States will make available personnel seconded from their own services as experts on mission.

14. SSA Consultancy. SSAs are fairly tightly proscribed consultancy contracts for short duration specialist services. These posts would be useful for bringing on board one or two individuals for short periods of time during the life of the mission e.g. to design / deliver specialized training programmes or e.g. to introduce a system such as a database or a specialized unit. The need for SSA services will need to be clearly outlined and justified at the outset of the mission to ensure that sufficient SSA money is budgeted for from the outset of the mission.

15. Gratis Personnel. These are not UN personnel but must be integrated carefully into the corrections structure. Member States, through either their prison services or their development cooperation programmes, may offer or be approached to provide personnel in support of the UN mission. This process must be carefully handled and respective rights and responsibilities clearly established from the outset. Gratis personnel must be effectively self-sufficient in their resourcing by the contributing country, however, to ensure unity of command and organizational coherence, they should be embedded in the management structure of the UN mission with a reporting line through the head of corrections. Experience to date has demonstrated that gratis personnel are most useful in specialized roles (such as developing policies or procedures or technical development of databases etc). The duration of deployment of gratis personnel should be based on the completion of set tasks, negotiated with the sending country. This helps reinforce accountability for the delivery of a product in a situation where direct lines of managerial accountability are often blurred. 16. UN Volunteers. The UNV mechanism may also be useful for recruitment of specialist roles not peculiar to corrections e.g. medical and nursing positions, psychologists, social workers, and translators. The UNV programme allows for targeted recruitment of specialist skill sets and is a cost effective way for the UN to provide necessary positions.

Language Support

17. An important resourcing consideration is the need for sufficient language support through translators and interpreters. Translation and interpreting support should be included in the approved staff structure from the outset to ensure that corrections staff are provided with international interpreters and translators in addition to local staff language assistants. This is particularly important for the management of staff and prisoners who do not speak the languages of the international staff, to enable recruitment of local staff, the translation of SOP’s, translation of training programs and interpretation when instructing local staff and conducting training programs.

Duration of Service

18. For all of the contract types listed above, duration of service is a key issue. In both East Timor and Kosovo it has been noted that a period of service of at least six months is fundamental to an individual’s effectiveness in the field. Shorter timeframes (e.g. of three


DRAFT FOR COMMENTmonths) do not account for the ‘start up’ time that all international staff require to integrate into a mission and mission environment. It is recognized however that in start up phases, three months may be all that is possible from staff that were deployed at short notice and for specified special projects.

Equipment

19. The budget for equipment to support corrections in a peacekeeping mission should include a realistic needs assessment of all necessary items.

An estimate of mission equipment for corrections should include an assessment of: Number and type of vehicles required for the particular operating conditions Communications equipment such as satellite phones, radios and mobile phones required

for security and management purposes Specialized equipment for the basic security management of correctional facilities (such as

for example lighting and razor wire).

20. The total estimate of equipment should be clearly indicated at this stage because accessing these items through the UN budget once in the mission area is likely to prove difficult. Standard office equipment will usually be budgeted for centrally in the mission based on the number of allocated posts for the unit. Where possible an assessment of initial operating costs for the management of prisons prior to the time a host country budget becomes available should also be included. This will include items required for the UN mission to be able to sustain prisoners at minimum international standards, and will need to include funding for items such as: food and clothing, fuel for generators and vehicles, reconstruction of facilities including water supply. In the early phases of a mission, many of these running costs may have to be incorporated under the UN budget until such time as a domestic financial system is put in place.


DRAFT FOR COMMENT2. Mission deployment

(a) Recruitment support21. The DPKO corrections advisor(s) should provide advisory support to the recruitment process for personnel being hired against corrections posts. This support will require established networks of appropriate personnel who are eligible for UN recruitment, those registered on ‘Galaxy’ or specialized corrections personnel provided by Member States as experts on mission or other contractual status. The DPKO corrections advisor(s) should have ongoing contact information and good relationships with Member States in this regard.

22. Wherever possible, mission recruitment should be undertaken on the basis of substantive interviews and professional references should be checked. Recruitment interviews should focus on core competencies for corrections personnel at relevant levels of seniority and specialization in accordance with job descriptions. Reference checks should verify prior corrections experience. To avoid a misalignment of expectations once personnel arrive in the mission area, during the recruitment process all prospective candidates should be carefully advised of what their role is, what will be expected of them, their conditions of employment and the field conditions of the mission. Ideally, a contract will be provided for signature prior to deployment.

23. The DPKO corrections advisor(s) and mission planning staff should consider the sequencing for the recruitment and deployment of field staff carefully to make sure key posts are filled first. Once senior staff are in place, recruitment of further personnel should, to the extent possible, be delegated to the field. The process of interviewing and reference checking should continue throughout the life of the mission.

(b) Briefing and ongoing advisory support24. In the early stages of mission start-up, the DPKO corrections advisor(s) should be instrumental in briefing staff prior to their arrival in the mission area with regard to the situation, prior planning materials as well as providing arriving staff with operational guidance (including Volume Two of this best practices document).

25. Once sufficient numbers of personnel are in situ in the mission, the responsibility for briefing new staff should pass quickly to the head of the prison service in the field, and a more comprehensive entry on duty briefing package developed for new staff, tailored to the particular field conditions. The DPKO corrections advisor(s) should support field staff in designing this.

Pre deployment briefing / induction training should include: Mentoring skills Cross-cultural skills and information Brief history of the situation Current legal framework UN rules and procedures Roles of other agencies and donors Corrections development plan and achievements to date.


DRAFT FOR COMMENT26. As a critical mass of key corrections personnel arrive in mission, the role of the DPKO corrections advisor(s) and HQs mission planners in shaping the mission will diminish. The operational execution and/or modification of the initial Concept of Operations to meet current operational needs will be exclusively a field mission responsibility. However, at all times, identified best practices should be used to guide implementation of the corrections mission and responsive advisory support from DPKO HQs is crucial. This will be an ongoing role for the DPKO corrections advisor(s) in cooperation with the Office of Operations.

27. Advisory support should focus on the provision of assistance in areas such as training, good practices and experiences from other missions, recruitment support, as well as corrections related advice to the Civilian Police Advisor and Office of Operations, as requested. In providing any advisory support to missions, due regard must be had for established communication channels. Instructions, requests for assistance and other communications between headquarters and the field must be conducted with regard for the established chain of command within the mission.


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IN

UNITED NATIONSPEACEKEEPING

VOLUME TWO:EXECUTIVE CORRECTIONS IN THE FIELD


DRAFT FOR COMMENT


VOLUME TWO: EXECUTIVE CORRECTIONS IN THE FIELD

Volume Two focuses on the roles of international corrections managers in the field and outlines current best practices to: establish minimum international corrections standards in a post-conflict

environment manage effective corrections facilities on the ground implement institution and capacity building programmes to establish and

consolidate sustainable national structures undertake transition planning and hand-over to local authorities.

1. Volume Two is in eleven sections focusing on key aspects of corrections mission management in the field. The volume begins with two sections on principles for corrections managers and guidance on conducting Situation Assessment and Analysis to inform the operational design of corrections activities in the field. Sections 3 - 9 provide guidance on establishing and managing an executive prison service in a host territory. These sections cover issues such as personnel issues, policy and procedure development, legal frameworks, resource mobilization and financial management, staff training, prisoner management, emergency management, transition and withdrawal.

1. Guiding Principles

2. Several basic principles should consistently be at the forefront of planning, design, management and handover of a post-conflict corrections system.

The following principles should guide planners, managers and staff at all times:

Inclusion of, and respect, for local personnel, culture and traditions Respect for international standards and human rights Sustainability Accountability and transparency Flexibility

2. Situation Analysis


DRAFT FOR COMMENT3. Developing a detailed information base on any existing corrections system is critical to situation analysis. This collection of operational information and situation analysis should build on any earlier assessment data produced in the pre-mission technical assessment and enable development of a comprehensive overall picture of the existing situation in relation to the territory’s previous or existing prisons and corrections system. Against this background, if possible, undertaking a systematic analysis of local prison requirements should be a first step for senior corrections personnel as they begin in the mission. On the basis of the information obtained, senior staff can commence detailed planning, needs assessment and gap analysis in establishing a prison service.

The prisons systems capacity analysis should at minimum consider the following: Prison population data Legal Framework Institutional Framework Infrastructure and Utilities Funding Situation

(a) Prison Population Information

4. Information on the prison population is critical. In particular the following details should be pursued as a priority:

Total numbers and local regional rates of imprisonment Locations of all prisons and detention centres Information on the legal status of all persons housed in prisons Demographics of this prisoner population Key issues such as conflicts between different groups within the prisons

5. Data generated by the previous authorities may be the best source of information about the pre-existing situation, the current situation and may include future planning information. It should be noted however that much of this information may no longer be accurate or applicable if there has been a shift in power, for example, or where political imprisonment was previously practiced. Previous governmental sources for this information could include the statistics, finance, planning, justice or corrections ministries or national archives. Local corrections institutions probably maintain their own files, however, in a post-conflict scenario, data held by governmental sources may have been destroyed, severely damaged or looted. Human rights (such as Human Rights Watch or Amnesty International) or other watchdog agencies or international organizations may have good data.

6. Where no information is available, comparative analyses of similar territories may be a valid starting point but fraught with probably flawed assumptions. While broadly applicable rules are often laden with dangerous assumptions, a common rule of thumb is to consider the rate of imprisonment in the region measured per 100,000 of the general population. The peculiarities of a post-conflict environment will skew such a rule substantially, however, experience indicates that this may be the only starting point until new data is developed.

7. The main use of the data is to develop a ‘best guess’ of the size and profile of the future prison population to enable the number, configuration and location of prisons required to be determined. Rehabilitation of all prisons from a previous regime may not fit with best practice principles – e.g. the development of regional networks, proximity to local courts and population centres are ‘good’ corrections practices which should be reflected where possible.


DRAFT FOR COMMENTThis data can also assist donor deliberations concerning potential support and importantly informs the forward estimates budget process.

(b) Existing Legal Framework

8. A good understanding of the host territory’s pre-existing legal framework and its prior implementation is sine qua non to developing a sustainable way forward. This is important in understanding the local prison personnel’s understanding of institutional linkages to other entities, to the processes and procedures that were pre-existing, and the approach of corrections personnel of the former system some of whom are likely to have been included in the current workforce).

9. Corrections personnel, supported by local and international legal experts and the mission’s Office of Legal Affairs (if no integral legal unit is provided for in the Corrections Personnel chart) should seek to obtain and, if necessary have translated, any pre-existing legislation relating to corrections. Key legislation to look for will include the criminal code and any laws relating to the execution of criminal or civil sanctions that include detention and imprisonment relating to adults and juveniles. There may also be legislation or formally established traditional practices relating to community based sanctions. After primary legislation is obtained, the legal code should be carefully screened for subsequent legislative amendments and any subsidiary or subordinate legislation. This legislation should be examined for its compliance with minimum international standards and its adequacy as a basic regulatory framework for corrections and penal management.

10. If this legislation is available, a guiding principle in the short term should be to leave pre-existing legislation untouched to the greatest extent possible except where it is contrary to minimum standards or is administratively and legally unworkable. Where legislation exists and is in compliance with minimum standards, but may be incomplete, the mission should first seek look to administrative procedures to implement minor modifications. If more substantial alterations are required, legislative amendment could be considered but this is likely to be time consuming and subject to the relevant legislative procedures as they exist in the mission area. New legislation should be a last resort but may well be needed if no legislation exists, or can be found, or if the legislation is substantially unworkable.

11. Experience demonstrates that any revision of legislation should be preceded with wide ranging consultation with local corrections and legal personnel, representatives of civil society, local and international agencies and NGO’s and local politicians, on the policy and practice implications of any legislative change and determination of the substantive content if it is to be adopted by the host country.

(c) Existing Institutional Structures

12. As with legislation, efforts should be made to determine the organizational and administrative structures that underpinned corrections management in the host territory. These structures may have ceased to exist or may be continuing. It is important to determine the institutional reporting lines of the prison service under the old system and the bureaucratic structures, which supported the prisons system to understand local staff organizational frameworks. This understanding enables international corrections personnel to integrate any new administrative and institutional proposals into the previous system rather than impose externally developed structures with which international staff are familiar with host country staff. 13. International human rights instruments recommend that administrative arrangements for the investigation and prosecution of criminal acts should be kept separate


DRAFT FOR COMMENTfrom the institutional arrangements for the detention of pre-trial and convicted persons. As a matter of best practice, where responsibility for prisons lies with the Ministry of Interior or internal security body, it is important to consider advocating to transfer prison administration to a ‘Ministry of Justice’ as a key element of prison reform however it is probable that reestablishing the prison service within the structure existing prior to the conflict is the preferred course of action and any transfer from a Ministry of Interior or similar to Ministry of Justice occur after a period of stability and national dialogue. In the longer term the chief executive officer of the prison service should report to a Government Minister, although this may be through another more senior executive such as the head of a Ministry of Justice.

14. Early appointment of local staff to personnel, finance, logistics, security support/investigations and training positions is desirable and where necessary supported by deployment of international personnel responsible for providing technical advice about developing and implementing systems to support these functions in the longer term.

(d) Infrastructure and Utilities

15. Building on any earlier technical assessment a comprehensive assessment of the pre-existing ‘hard’ infrastructure (including building structures and security equipment) and the utilities infrastructure supporting the prison system should be undertaken at an early stage and form part of planning documents.

16. Once the infrastructure baseline has been identified, an assessment should be made about the appropriateness of pre-existing structures and whether these should be maintained or changed. This assessment should be based on the foregoing analysis of prisoner profiles. It should also be developed with regard for the future fiscal situation of the host territory government. It is probable that this assessment will need to be fully revised within 12 months of the commencement of the mission and reconsidered on a regular basis thereafter. This process should include a brief cost-benefit analysis in the light of the current and likely future conditions in the host territory. The following sorts of infrastructure issues could be considered: building structures, security equipment, water supply and power. These are considered below.

Buildings and Security Equipment

17. The security equipment and structures necessary are those which are adequate, affordable and practicable for the prisons situation in the host country. If there has been extensive damage, for example as in Dubrava prison in Kosovo, then the assessment team may need to include structural engineers from within the mission or military engineers to help with damage estimates and estimated requirements for repair or rebuilding. Key infrastructure items to be considered include:

Building structures (accommodation, medical, catering facilities) Walls and security measures (razor wire etc) Lighting

18. It should be noted that international corrections professionals may be expected to accept responsibility for the management of facilities which may have security equipment and structures which would not be regarded as ‘fit for purpose’ in their home countries. It is necessary to develop plans that recognize that high cost hardware and systems cannot be the primary approach for achieving security in a post-conflict environment. Plans must recognize that implementation of dynamic security practices is critical to the achievement and


DRAFT FOR COMMENTmaintenance of security in situations where funding in both the short and longer term is likely to be inadequate and presents serious challenges for managing security risks.

19. Identification of potential sources of materials, equipment and training expertise is necessary. In the first instance the military may assist in providing materials for urgent repair of security hardware including rebuilding walls, provision of razor tape etc. Donor countries involved in the assessment mission may also contribute and have been particularly important in the early stages of Kosovo and Timor Leste missions when UN structures, processes and responsiveness were not well developed.

Water Supply

20. Documenting the current and previous water supply arrangements should be incorporated in the assessment. Provision of a sustainable, reliable uncontaminated source of water may be difficult to ensure and it is known that effective long term management of this issue requires international corrections professionals to develop a working knowledge of local community arrangements for managing access to water and that they work with local staff within this framework especially when it is not possible to secure the prison water supply from all access by the local community. Redistribution of populations may prove that previous arrangements are no longer adequate. Creation of an independent supply may be recommended e.g. sinking a well within the prison compound.

Power

21. The power situation is an important feature of infrastructure for both security and prisoner welfare (particularly where there are harsh winter conditions). Generators are likely to provide a short term solution only as they are expensive and require substantial maintenance and experience indicates subject to regular breakdowns. The local power authority when functional will need to be engaged in a long term solution. Wiring for power distribution should be checked carefully for safety.

(e) Assessing the Funding Situation

22. The systems capacity analysis should also identify existing and likely funding options for the corrections system, particularly what is available during the early phases of mission start-up. The process of identifying and managing financial and other resources from a host territory budget and from donors is considered in more detail below in the section entitled Resource Mobilisation. Individual sections in this paper also provide guidance on potential sources of assistance. Corrections personnel should draw up an inventory of existing funding in the corrections sector, as well as identify potential funding sources within the donor community. This should be done through discussions with (where present):

The budget planning and finance ministry of the host territory (to identify previous budget allocations to the prison service and to obtain an estimate on the overall public financing envelope for a given year).

The aid coordination entity of the Government or the UN administration who could help advise on resource mobilization strategies and aid priorities for the government/administration.

Donor governments (to identify which donors have invested how much in corrections and which donors might be amenable to new or additional funding. Where donors have funded activities, project documents should be requested). This should also include an assessment of which donors have rapid disbursement mechanisms for the immediate post-crisis recovery period.


DRAFT FOR COMMENT International organizations (to see what activities are underway and whether funding is

available, for example through the ICRC in tracing activities or projects by UN agencies in capacity building or for specialized activities (such as UNICEF support for juveniles).

International and local NGOs should be approached to see what programmes are being run, if any, to support corrections – e.g. prisoner training, family visits, counseling etc)

The UN Mission Administration office (to identify what can be funded by the UN mission and what cannot to avoid friction later, particularly in the transition stage).

Peacekeeping force and Civilian Police component (to ascertain what formal and/or informal assistance can be identified or potential sharing of equipment and vehicles)

DPKO corrections advisor(s) to identify member states which have previously contributed to corrections in peace operations

23. This consultative approach will help provide a combined sources estimate of the resources going into the corrections sector and identify potential partners. It is also the first step in identifying a coordination framework for assistance within the sector and the development of a departmental budget.


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3. Institutional Framework, Policies and Procedures

(a) Legislation, Standards and Oversight Mechanisms

Legislative Reform

24. As noted in the Situation Analysis section, the guiding principle for the establishment of legal frameworks should be to leave pre existing legislation untouched except where it is contrary to minimum standards or is administratively or legally unworkable. When it is determined that penal reform will require revision of the applicable law, wide ranging consultation with local and international agencies, corrections and legal personnel and representatives of civil society will be necessary if the legislation is to be accepted and supported.

25. The views of the host territory representatives should be sought in the first instance regarding particular models of legislation, which they may wish to adopt. Input from international and local human rights agencies, from corrections staff, political figures and key community figures should also be sought for both a local perspective and an international perspective from which there is experience of similar processes in other developing countries implementing penal reform. This process could be contentious, longer term and will likely demand significant time from prison management – both local and international. Any UN sponsored legislation will need to reflect the provisions of international human rights instruments. Draft model legislation developed under the auspices of OHCHR may assist. (appendix x)

26. It is important to ensure that senior government, political and community figures are engaged in the process of development of any legislative reform proposals and any new directions in developing the prison system to ensure that these persons are committed to the proposals and able to advocate and defend the proposed approaches when addressing issues with the local community or other leadership figures.

International Standards

27. Appendix X lists the International and Regional Human Rights Instruments, which deal generally and specifically with prisoners and conditions of detention and should underpin the work of Prison Managers responsible for UN corrections activities. These standards form an integral part of the legislative and policy framework for the establishment of delivery of appropriate prison services under a UN umbrella. “A Human Rights Approach to Prison Management’ brings together the provisions of these instruments in a practical manner. (appendix x)

28. It is noteworthy that, in a number of developing countries, full implementation of international standards may in fact result in the prisoner population enjoying a standard of living higher than that of the general community. Even if this is not the case, the perception may still arise in the community and must be managed. From prior experience, prison managers should be sensitive to this issue and recognize that if it arises, it may become a political issue including accusations that imprisonment is no longer a deterrent to crime and the perceived injustice of prisoners appearing to live in more privileged conditions than many. The financial sustainability of full implementation of international norms and standards should


DRAFT FOR COMMENTalso be examined given the limited budgets available to developing country prison systems. It is important to note, however, that in countering criticism and in considering cost-benefit approaches, at no time should UN personnel seek to derogate basic minimum human rights standards and duty of care. In situations where the UN is responsible for executive corrections, all correctional facilities should be run in full accordance with agreed minimum international standards.

Independent Inspection Processes

29. International instruments also provide for the implementation of independent inspection processes that are substantively independent of the government authorities responsible for prisons. Being able to demonstrate that the prison system is being managed in a fair and just manner is key to developing community confidence and the confidence of the staff and prisoners in any reform programme

30. Given the possibility that regular human rights abuses were part of an earlier prison regime it is even more important that Prison Managers actively encourage and facilitate the public scrutiny of prisons. Various mechanisms may be implemented as part of the machinery of making democratic governments accountable to the community for the prisons they run. A useful formal mechanism could be the appointment by government of an independent body, or ‘Oversight Committee’, which reports to an agency not closely connected to the Prison service. The experience and expertise of any existing watchdog agencies should be drawn upon in developing such mechanisms. It may be useful to propose/appoint members of these organisations to be representatives on such a Committee in an ex officio capacity. Provision for oversight mechanisms should be included in any corrections legislation being developed.

31. The active promotion of public scrutiny by international and national agencies during the mandated period of the mission offers the opportunity for national staff to gain an understanding of the role of such bodies and a positive attitude to facilitating access and carrying out of their oversight roles in the future. For this reason it is important that international staff promote the regular attendance of oversight bodies in prisons facilitating open access to staff and prisoners. Reinforcing the legitimacy and importance of oversight is key to long term prison reform through the development of confidence by prisoners and staff of this monitoring role and as a means of developing the wider community’s understanding of, and confidence in, the role and function of the prisons.

Complaints Systems

32. International instruments provide for internal complaints mechanisms that encourage prison management to manage prisons in a fair and just manner and demonstrate these principles in their decision-making. It is important that a clearly understood and accepted set of procedures, which allow prisoners to make both requests and complaints is established. There should be both internal mechanisms, which are efficient, accessible, credible and objective, and also mechanisms that enable external arbiters to deal with issues.

(b) Policy Development

33. It is important to develop and implement a penal management policy, which reflects international standards. In setting such policies, however, it is important to ensure that standards are put in place in a manner that recognizes the limits of the system brought about by the post-conflict environment and limited financial resources and human capital. In the


DRAFT FOR COMMENTshort term there may be little choice but for the international staff to develop basic policy and procedures especially in the absence of host country correctional management staff.

34. To help ensure the sustainability of policies, international staff should work with local staff to develop a good understanding of local policy and procedures under the previous regime and an understanding of culturally appropriate approaches. This approach helps maximise the likelihood of developing new policies that are owned and accepted by the national staff while also consistent with international standards and culturally appropriate. The temptation can be to develop a version of the dominant international contingent’s policy and procedures with limited involvement of local staff particularly in situations in which there are no middle or senior management national staff and written documents of the previous regime are unavailable. Whilst there may be little choice than to adopt this approach in the early stages of the mission experience demonstrates that facilitation of the process by international staff is the recommended approach to longer term policy development. This approach can help build a cadre of national staff familiar with the policy formulation process for the future. More importantly it enhances the likelihood of continued acceptance and implementation of the policies and procedures after the departure of UN international staff. A prioritized policy development programme should be developed in conjunction with national staff and systematically worked through with them. This of course has trade-offs in terms of time and effort but is considered from past experience to be a worthwhile investment.

(c) Standard Operating Procedures

35. The same principles outlined for the development of policy apply to the development of standard operating procedures (SOPs). Post conflict situations are by their nature situations in which resources are limited and future prison systems are likely to remain poorly resourced. Procedures need to reflect this reality regardless of (and sometimes in spite of) whether donors provide sophisticated equipment during the period of the mission.

36. The development of SOPs at an early stage is necessary to ensure that there is congruence between training content and the required practice in the prisons. Procedures will be an important touchstone for new employees in the corrections system and provide a good framework for testing the capacity of national staff. Early SOPs development also helps to facilitate the development of consistent practices across the system and between different prisons. This is of particular importance because the international work force is likely to turnover at a high rate and when the rotations of international staff come from differing correctional systems (and therefore do not share a common experience of correctional practices and systems). As a consequence, there has been a tendency in the past for new international staff to want to change SOP’s and local procedures that they find already existing in mission, but which they are not familiar with themselves. This can cause substantial frustration or anxiety for local staff who are then forced to adapt every time a new international contingent’s procedures are put in place. A set of SOP’s thus provides international and national staff with a common frame of reference across all prisons.

37. Creating certainty for local staff and ongoing experience with a specified set of practices is more significant in developing capacity in local staff than is regular upgrading of procedures. Any procedural upgrading should be discussed with, and supported by, national staff and the development of the procedures should include significant involvement of national staff. If possible, upgrading of procedures should be done as systematic process (for example a yearly review), not ad hoc. Any changes to procedures should be carefully explained to staff to ensure they understand the rationale behind changes and not just the end result.


DRAFT FOR COMMENT38. Procedures must reflect post conflict realities such as the fact that electrical supply may be intermittent and skilled personnel unlikely to be readily available to repair equipment. Experience demonstrates equipment that requires regular electricity supply, hard to obtain spare parts or skilled and regular maintenance is likely to become inoperable and could result in a breakdown of management systems. Creating highly computer dependent systems and reliance on sophisticated equipment are generally inappropriate due to the infrastructure damage of a post-conflict environment. High technology systems are also expensive and require a highly skilled workforce. A careful assessment of the appropriateness of such systems should be made. Where high technology equipment is used, back up systems, contingency plans and/or procedures for redundancy in the system need to be developed. Annexes XXX provide the Standard Operating Procedures from Kosovo and East Timor as illustrative examples.


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4. Financial Planning and Resource Mobilisation

39. From the outset, planning for corrections management must include good budget planning and a strategy to mobilise resources. Effective resource mobilization is crucial to establishing and sustaining a prison service during the period of the mandate as it is unlikely UN mission funds will be able to absorb all the costs of running the system. Resource mobilization and financial plans should aim to put in place longer term plans and financing arrangements for the prison service so it can continue after the drawdown of international personnel.

40. Budget planning for prisons must take into account the host country’s long-term recurrent budget capacity. Given that prisons are expensive to build and to operate, experience demonstrates that to ensure sustainability, there needs to be a careful analysis of what is needed in the short term as against affordability in the longer term since a prison system that financially unsustainable will have long term negative effects in the host territory. The capacity of each source of funding (local, donor and UN) will vary depending on the situation. Irrespective of the sources of funding, a strong budgeting, financial planning and tracking capacity is important and should be a key local and international position to be recruited as early as possible in the Prison service.

(a) Local Resources

41. Local Resources relates to domestic funding sources available to finance for prison services. The primary source of funding will be the host government’s (or authority’s) national budget, which is funded primarily from the territory’s domestic revenue. It is important that as soon as a national budget is identified and a planning process is up and operating, that the prison service familiarize itself with the budget process and relevant individuals in the Ministry of Finance (or perhaps a Central Fiscal Authority, Treasury or Economic Planning entity) who are responsible for managing the corrections budget portfolio. If possible Corrections should have a separate appropriation (i.e. a separate line in the budget) under the budget allocations. This is standard practice in many countries but may be overlooked in a post-conflict environment. It is often in the interest of other ministries (such as a Justice Ministry) to have corrections in a separate line because generally corrections consumes a large portion of the department’s allocated funding and separation provides better indication of future need.

42. Once a budget line is identified, corrections management should ensure that preparing well-reasoned, costed and argued budget proposals is a priority and that local personnel are involved in the process. These submissions should be linked to clear objectives and activities, and have responsible and accurate cost estimates. To the extent possible, the budget estimates should seek to identify long-term recurrent costs for any proposed activities. Well thought through and drafted budget submissions are important to ensuring the needs of the prison service are well represented at budget allocations time and in the event that the full budget bid is not approved in its entirety by central financial agencies it is useful to have well-established internal priorities which identify priority programmes and spending areas.

43. An internal capacity to internally track expenditure and the achievement of budget objectives will also enable the service to better present its case in subsequent budget rounds. Full budget execution (i.e. effectively and efficiently expending all appropriated monies) is important for future budget appropriations. As sources of external funding diminish over time it will be increasingly important to ensure all ongoing costs are captured within the national


DRAFT FOR COMMENTbudget to better ensure sustainability and a consistent funding stream. At later stages of mission development, seeking new and large amounts of funding from a heavily encumbered national budget will likely not be as successful as consistent estimates of funding requirements from the outset.

(b) Donors

44. In the early stages of establishing a new host country corrections system, the most obvious form of funding may be donor support. This is particularly the case where no host territory government budget is available to re-establish (or establish) a prison service. Donor assistance comes in various forms and has a range of advantages and drawbacks.

Common forms of donor assistance:

Cash (particularly in the early phases of a crisis response) Personnel (consultant technical experts and government secondments) Equipment (vehicles, specialized equipment etc) Contracted goods and services (donor contracts a third part organization to

undertake specified activities on behalf of the UN or host territory e.g. construction or rehabilitation of infrastructure)

45. In the early days of a post-conflict setting some donors will have very rapid disbursement funds for quick spending, high visibility activities. This can be useful for corrections, which may need to spend significant amounts upfront in repairing prison infrastructure, feeding and clothing prisoners. By quickly and efficiently using early funding sources, corrections managers can prove to donors that they are a reliable recipients of rapid disbursement funding as long as the money is well-accounted for and results are demonstrable. After the first tranches of quick impact money are spent, however, experience indicates that donor funding takes on a different aspect. It becomes subject to greater scrutiny and increasingly based on clear priorities set by the host territory and its aid coordinating entities. Some donors are not interested in funding certain areas (especially if it is potentially unpopular in their home constituency or is high risk), for some donors this includes prisons.

46. Donors often prefer to fund discrete interventions that do not entail long term, open-ended commitments. For example, whilst donors may be prepared to fund the rehabilitation of prison infrastructure, they may not fund its operating costs (it is often cited that capital injections for reconstruction comprise approximately 15% of the total cost of a prison given a lifetime of 25 – 30 years). Donors are unlikely to take on the long term operating costs of the facilities and thus questions should be raised during discussions with donors and the Ministry of Finance about the recurrent cost implications of donor assistance before it is accepted. Donors may themselves press the Government to see a sustainability strategy before providing support.

Administration of donor assistance

47. A down side of donor funding is that it sometimes creates onerous reporting responsibilities to account for the assistance. This is particularly the case when multiple donors fund multiple activities within the sector, as most donors have widely differing reporting formats that must be followed. To the extent possible, the prison service should try to negotiate an agreed reporting format with all of its donors to cut down on the burden. In any event, from the outset, a clear understanding of what is expected of the UN and the prison


DRAFT FOR COMMENTservice is crucial as is the involvement of local personnel. Similarly, the donors should be impressed upon to act responsibly and to ensure that their undertakings are fully met.

48. Proposals for funding can also be laborious in their preparation and should only be prepared and submitted to a donor if there have been indications of real interest on the part of a donor following discussions or the submission of a concept note (a very short proposal and preliminary budget). For larger proposals, once a proposal is agreed by a donor there may also be a requirement for a full project design to be developed which can include feasibility assessments and design missions. This is usually undertaken by donor personnel but will absorb staff time as well.

49. If a donor wishes to conclude a formal MoU or project agreement, this usually must be done in full consultation with the UN Office of Legal Affairs or the host territory’s government legal counsel who will assess the rights and liabilities of all parties under the agreement. It is important to ascertain who in the UN mission has delegated authority to sign such agreements on behalf of the Organisation.

Donor Coordination

50. Where a donor coordination mechanism has been established within the UN or the government, this should be respected and used. The coordination process is needed to prioritise donor interventions based on the competing priorities of the host territory and mission. Without coordination at both the sector and multi-sector levels, donor assistance can become duplicative and overlapping causing substantial confusion. It can also create schisms between different public programmes and unproductive competition for resources without reference to overall priorities. The executive agencies of the host territory (be they within a UN mission or advised by UN experts) should therefore take the lead in articulating priorities for donor assistance and identify interventions for donors. This could be done jointly with a donor or unilaterally by the prison service and then submitted to donors.

51. Within the corrections sector, donor activity should be carefully tracked and occasional coordination working groups comprising local and international personnel can be useful. Joint donor assessment and project identification missions should also be considered in order to minimize the burden on corrections staff and to ensure a common view emerges between key players. Donor programming principles state that assistance should be demand-driven and not supply driven. In Kosovo, the Prison service developed strong links with donors and established a donor roundtable to facilitate assistance in the sector, in addition to separate bilateral discussions.

(c) UN Resources

52. There are two main forms of UN assistance that can be obtained within the mission area. The first is through mission resources allocated to the corrections function, as well as those common services that are provided mission-wide to all personnel. The second form of assistance is that provided by United Nations specialized agencies, funds and programmes (such as UNICEF, UNDP, UNHCR, OHCHR etc).

UN Mission Resources

53. In the case of mission resources, the goods and services available under this budget are usually highly proscribed. This issue is also looked at in the planning phase in Volume One


DRAFT FOR COMMENTin the section on Mission Resources. They are funds provided by Member States (approved by the General Assembly) under assessed contributions and are for the functioning of the UN mission. The use of mission resources is dictated by the budget of the mission which, in turn, is dictated by the quality of the planning and budgeting process (initially at headquarters but then later in the field). Poor budget projections are likely to lead to resourcing problems in the field. With respect to common goods and services of the mission, the amount of resourcing is usually based on the number of UN personnel in that section of the mission.

54. Difficulties have arisen in the past where goods and services that are intended for UN personnel are being requested for the use of non-UN personnel involved in executive functions for which the UN is responsible (e.g. local staff in the corrections department who are hired on non-UN arrangements such as through the host country budget, or for example costs for housing and feeding prisoners). This ‘blue line’ issue has arisen in both the Kosovo and East Timor missions and has been a considerable problem in determining what the UN can and cannot fund through mission resources – this is partly to do with distinctions between development (or nation-building) activities on the one hand and peacekeeping on the other. The most effective way of handling the situation is at mission planning and budgeting stage (see Volume One) by obtaining agreement for funding of certain necessary costs. Any budgeted costs must be explicitly linked to the achievement of the mission mandate. As a rule of thumb, funds should be argued for under the UN budget where it is necessary for the execution of a primary responsibility of the UN peace mission. If mission funds are obtained it will still be important to as quickly as possible begin phasing these out and replacing them with a more sustainable form of financing – preferably the local budget – as transferring costs later in the life of the mission may become increasingly hard to do as the local budget will be increasingly called upon by other arms of the administration.

UN Agency, Fund and Programme Resources

55. Funding through UN agencies, funds and programmes are voluntary sources of funding. The agencies are funded by donor governments through voluntary contributions for specific project or programme activities. The discussions held with these multilateral agencies should be conducted in a similar manner as dealing with bilateral donors. If they are active or prospective donors for the corrections (or rule of law) sector, they should be incorporated under the same coordination frameworks. The issues about administration of donor financing also apply to agencies who use similar systems and have similar reporting requirements. Each of the agencies has a fairly well-defined sectoral role and any funding negotiations with agencies should be based on these sector specific mandates (e.g. UNHCR for refugees, UNICEF for children and mothers, WHO for health, UNDP for governance and public administration etc).


DRAFT FOR COMMENT5. Personnel Issues

56. Establishing salary levels, determining conditions of employment and recruitment strategies and procedures are likely to be among the most contentious and difficult managerial issues having the greatest potential for industrial unrest, that international staff will be required to handle. Where no staffing and personnel systems and structures exist, the central administrative entities of the UN or host country administrations (such as a civil service commission or ministry of finance) are likely to provide line managers with some guidance as to indicative salary levels and conditions of temporary contracts but recruitment processes in the short term may be the responsibility of individual agencies and thus need to be carefully considered to prevent longer term industrial issues.

57. International staff should have regard for forward financial estimates when recruiting staff and proposing staffing structures so as to avoid a situation of oversupply and the development of a mindset amongst local staff concerning ‘greater numbers of staff = greater security’ when it is unlikely that the host country can support this size workforce in the long term. Such a situation inevitably leads to major industrial issues for the host country in the longer term. At the same time, over recruitment is also a useful strategy in the early stages in that it provides the opportunity to have a set percentage of local staff in training at any time and provided this approach is managed by this or a similar strategy does not lead to long term expectations of high staff to prisoner ratios.

58. It is also likely that the local staff will be poorly paid and therefore international staff should be able to provide local staff with consistent information concerning the relationship between the host country economy/funding arrangements in the context of sustainable nation building and their salaries. Having the central agency responsible for setting public sector salaries address staff meetings can also be useful strategy.

(a) Staffing Structure

Size and Structure

59. In situations in which there are no local staff or staff structure in place at the start of the mission, international managers will need to create an interim structure, which will later be considered by the host country authorities in greater detail to retain or to adjust. The preferred approach is to find the balance between establishing the fundamental foundations of a prison service structure without locking in all aspects of it. The actual size and shape of the service will depend on the situation on the ground – the prison population, the number of prisoner, what remains of previous structures and personnel etc. It is also important to have regard for previous organizational arrangements and is preferable to build on these rather than imposing a model which the international staff are familiar with.

60. It is possible that corrections may have been managed from within a Ministry of Interior or similar and may not have been separated from police administration. Wherever the corrections service is located institutionally, it is necessary to establish both the uniformed and support section of the prison service early in the mission. The three main organizational structures should comprise:

Management – both headquarters and prison based Administration and Support – including human resources, finance and administration,

logistics and procurement roles, staff development and training.


DRAFT FOR COMMENT Operations – Headquarters coordination of operations and operational staff in the

prisons

Staffing tables and the organizational charts of both the UNMIK and UNTAET prison services are at Annex X. Key Appointments

61. In the short term, creating a personnel structure that provides for the immediate appointment of both uniformed base grade and supervisory level positions should be a priority. The creation of a local staff management structure and the appointment of officers to senior positions within the first 12 – 18 months of the mission is desirable since early appointment provides the longest possible period of training, shadowing and development for the local staff in these critical positions. International staff may believe that the local staff require more lengthy base grade training and experience prior to becoming eligible for promotion to management positions however the reality is that the duration of the UN presence may be more limited than is necessary to develop a strong, robust and experienced local staff and the temptation to delay middle and senior management appointments may be very real due to this relative lack of experience of local staff. However, the benefits of extended base grade experience compared with the disadvantages to the staff appointed to management positions having the benefit of a relatively short period after full appointment to their role and the departure of the international staff warrant serious consideration. On balance early appointment of management staff is preferred. To do otherwise is to potentially leave a host country with management staff who have had relatively limited experience in their managerial roles relative to the time spent in junior roles within the transition period.

62. Similarly it is important that development of a civilian headquarters and prison system administrators is undertaken early in the mission to ensure the involvement of local personnel in the development of procedures and to provide for local development of the long term capacity and infrastructure. Key positions that should be filled as a priority include finance, procurement, logistics, personnel and human resources roles. Depending on the potential size of the prison system creation of legal officer, architect and engineering roles may also be appropriate. In many cases it will be the situation that these professional positions are located within the broader Department of Justice and are available to the Prison service along with other Justice Department entities. Early appointment and co- locating local staff positions in these fields with international staff are key principles that should be adopted where local staff do not possess sufficient experience to assume immediate and full responsibility for these sometimes complex roles.

63. Recruitment of local specialist support staff– prisoner programs and prison industries are unlikely to be given priority in the early stages of the mission but should be appointed within the first 12 - 24 months to facilitate development and introduction of programs particularly through partnerships with donors and local NGO’s. The absence of highly developed local skills should not deter appointment to these positions. The appointment of local medical and nursing personnel should occur as early as possible and they should be based in a main or central prison to commence development of health services policy and procedures and direct prisoner treatment. The later development of a medical service unit could be considered for headquarters if the size of the system warrants this development.

(b) Recruitment Strategies and Procedures


DRAFT FOR COMMENT64. It is unlikely that there will be a central public service recruitment policy or system in the early stages of a mission however it is important that recruitment strategies developed by international corrections staff are transparent, equitable, accountable, non discriminatory and efficient. They must seek to recruit individuals whose behaviour and values are consistent with the professional standards required of a prison service, which adheres to international instruments relating to the detention of prisoners.

65. Experience indicates that special attention should be given to ensure the host territory ethnic profile is reflected in recruitment outcomes and that the recruitment of women is actively encouraged. In situations in which women or certain groups have been denied educational and work opportunities in previous regimes, differing recruitment qualifications may be necessary. Cultural contexts will need to be thought through carefully in this regard.

66. There is a range of methods of attracting personnel in the early phase of a mission: listings of previous corrections staff may be available in records and a register of previous prison staff could be developed. Advertising could be placed on local notice boards, the prison gates or key community agencies may be useful sources through which to advertise the recruitment program in the short term. More formal advertising of vacancies through local media should be adopted when these media are functioning effectively. All applicants should be given equal treatment by recruiters, even if they have previous experience and feel they have a ‘right’ to a job. Staff should also be screened to the extent possible to check for good character consistent with any transitional authority position concerning previous office holders.

67. A realignment of the initial recruitment strategy may be necessary in the event that a central civil service agency develops a recruitment strategy applicable to all civil servants. It is probable that this will provide the opportunity to assess all existing staff to ascertain if they the meet specified criteria for transfer from temporary to permanent contracts.

(c) Promotion Management

68. Establishing a staff structure and promotion system is a key issue requiring early focus in the mission. Salary and promotion arrangements are likely to be key industrial issues for local staff particularly where the promotion system is based on different principles from that experienced under the earlier system. This issue requires careful management and must be grounded in a fair, transparent and accountable process.

69. It is necessary to determine the selection process to be used for appointment of national staff to management positions and this is likely to be a key issue for host country leadership and in any event must be compliant with any centralised civil servant approach to appointment at senior levels. Selection from internal applicants may be permitted in which case the development of competency based training program to be undertaken by applicants for these positions and from whom specified number are selected for further training and development after appointment to senior roles may be adopted. Development of a competency based assessment tool and training program on which to base promotion is considered current best practice. Appendix xxxx provides an example of this type of course. If it is an external selection process the opportunity to complete a competency based course as part of the orientation and induction process should be considered. Using a range of forums to explain the system and address issues may be necessary including presentations from the Central Agency governing public sector employment. Given the potential for contention, briefing senior host country figures (political figures for example) may also be a useful strategy in managing the fallout from disaffected staff.


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(d) Code of Conduct

70. Development of a Code of Conduct is an important initiative in developing a professional national service. It is probable that the host territory’s central public sector agency will develop a Code of Conduct in due course, however, it is not necessary to wait for such a development before developing an interim instrument for corrections. Changes can be made to this, if necessary, when the central policy is established. The Codes of Conduct developed for East Timor and Kosovo are attached at Annex xx.

(d) Disciplinary Issues

71. It is necessary to develop an internal disciplinary system for local staff within the framework of capacity building. It is also essential to recognize when implementing that system that cross cultural misunderstandings between local and international staff particularly when there is no shared language. This can result in issues being taken up as disciplinary issues inappropriately. In building the good will of the international community and the UN effort it is important to recognize this dynamic and not pursue issues as disciplinary matters which have occurred as a result of differing frameworks and cultural understandings.


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6. Training

(a) Training Needs Analysis and competency based training

72. It is desirable that a training needs analysis (TNA) of local staff is undertaken at an early stage involving a skills audit in areas of required competency in corrections. This audit overlaid against the service’s required skills enables a picture of the skills gap to be developed and which then forms the basis of all training program development in turn becoming the training requirement for local corrections staff. Inclusion in the initial deployment of international staff of a training specialist facilitates this process. This may be followed up by a donor country or agency best able to provide specialists for this purpose. It may be possible to include any later Prison service TNA in a broader TNA for other areas of the civil service as the mission develops.

73. It is generally accepted that a competency based training approach is current best practice and as such should be the approach adopted in the reform and development of prison services. If this approach is followed, then it is important that the TNA also incorporated the same competencies in its assessment. Attached at Appendix xxxx are examples of a competency based basic training and management training programs.

(b) Curriculum Development and Programme Structure

74. Appointing an international and national Training and Development Coordinator (or national training support personnel) at the start of the mission to develop and manage the training program is a recommended approach. Recognising that the life of a mission is relatively short it is important to emphasise training of staff throughout the mission mandate period since this is a key component of capacity building. Managers should be aware that with intensive ongoing training programmes, there will be a continuous impact on the available workforce at any given time. As previously suggested allowing for some over-recruitment of local staff on short term contracts may also be a useful strategy to enable training to be undertaken without impacting on the operation of the prisons and this over recruitment be absorbed into the local staff establishment.

75. Curriculum development should be undertaken by professional correctional training personnel in conjunction with national staff. This approach allows for the early establishment of national training capacity and assists in ensuring that the curriculum is culturally appropriate. Translation of both the Policy and Procedures Manual and the Training Program into the relevant local languages is essential to maximise the training program effectiveness and the implementation of approved policy and procedures. Training design should be reviewed regularly with feedback from local staff and discussions about training techniques with other areas in the mission that will also be conducting training of local staff.

76. Continuous upgrade of training curricula is likely to be more favourably received by national staff rather than simply repeating earlier training. Prior experience has shown that as new contingents of international staff arrive they may want local staff to undertake repeat training on the basis that current standards do not demonstrate full internalisation of past training. Such approaches have been poorly received by national staff for whom there may be many reasons for apparent lack of uptake of earlier training. A more positive response is likely


DRAFT FOR COMMENTto be gained by providing new material and repeating training components only when requested by local staff and alternative strategies for managing assessed substandard practice. In some instances repeat training will be needed, however, but the morale issues associated with that approach should be well understood.

77. Human Rights issues should underpin the design of all training programs. Significant work has already been undertaken by the International Centre for Prison Studies (ICPS) including the production of a manual “A Human Rights Approach to Prison Management”. It should be a mandatory reference for international corrections professionals in any future peace operation. The ICPS manual is attached at annex XX for reference and is available at www.prisonstudies.org.

(c) Facilities and training delivery

78. Seeking donor funding for the rehabilitation or construction of a central training facility may be desirable. If a dedicated training facility is not available it may be necessary to negotiate access to a police or another agency’s training facility. Training may have to utilise part of a prison or the head office as a venue.

79. The delivery of training courses should include national staff either those who are experienced trainers or those selected to form the nucleus of a future Training Section. It may be the case that insufficient language assistance is provided and that the majority of national personnel do not share a common language with the international trainers. In this case selecting national staff who have some competence in the language of the international training staff can prove to be a useful strategy. Professional international corrections trainers should be used to deliver training if possible and they should be supported by additional corrections experts. The UN mission may have a language and training unit who could be approached for support from professional trainers.

(d) Partner Agencies

80. UN Human Rights and NGOs are likely to be valuable training partners. UN corrections managers should use as a reference the ICPS Human Rights Approach to Prison Management and all international staff should be familiar with the content of this document and reinforce this in carrying out their roles with national staff. Human rights groups in the mission area may be prepared to conduct training courses and information sessions for prisoners in human rights issues This can prove particularly useful in cases in which the prison system being developed is very different from that which existed under the previous system.


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(a) Cultural and Post-Conflict Issues

81. Antagonism and violence within prison populations between divided groups in the territory is a very real threat in a post-conflict setting. This needs to be actively managed. Local staff will likely be the most competent to determine the risk attached to the management of different groups with each other. The fact that individuals belonged to opposing political groups during the preceding conflict will not necessarily demand their separation in prison. The biases of local staff should, however, also be considered by managers. Discussion of the issues of ethnic, religious or other tensions should be discussed with police, political and/or human rights elements of the mission. Where a conflict was based on long standing ethnic or other differences it is probable that strict separation of the differing groups will be required. More generally, international staff will make themselves more effective and able to manage both prisoners and staff if they develop a comprehensive understanding of the history of the conflict, early and current local politics. Briefings from political officers in the mission can be a useful source for identifying possible issues of concern.

(b) Catering

82. The issue of catering for prisoners is likely to be one of the time consuming, logistically difficult and expensive responsibilities of international staff in early days of a mission. Prisoners tend not to accept military ration packs and it becomes necessary to purchase rations through local markets and therefore early access to cash for payment at time of purchase is necessary. As soon as possible it will be important to establish local contracts for supply of meals or rations. Established UN contracting arrangements should be adopted since this is an area of high potential for corruption. The experience of UNTAET and UNMIK indicates that the costs of prisoner meals consumes a significant proportion of the operational budget of the service and will therefore attract audit and other scrutiny. Putting a good commodity and procurement tracking and estimates system will therefore be important.

83. It is useful to have a local dietician determine and certify the ration scale since this is likely to be an issue that arouses community interest with allegations that prisoners are better catered for than the local community. Although this may in fact be the case, the principle of a duty of care by the State over prisoners must be applied strictly. The key concern for the prison manager, irrespective of ‘bad press’ is to ensure that prisoners receive adequate nutrition, within available resources. Food rations should be culturally appropriate and delays and interruptions in the supply of meals should be kept to an absolute minimum.

(c) Medical and Psychiatric Services

84. International instruments provide for the fundamental right of prisoners to receive health care which is at least the equivalent of that they could receive in the community. In the immediate post conflict situation it is likely that medical services will be accessed from military or international medical service providers such as NGOs. It is useful to employ locally qualified and experienced medical and nursing staff as early as possible topossible to provide services and to establish the prison medical and nursing administration network. The


DRAFT FOR COMMENTuse of local practitioners also provides for the use of traditional medicine and improved care due to language compatibility and shared understanding of illness in the community.

85. Support can also be gained by early development of formal arrangements with a local health authority for the provision of routine and emergency medical and specialist services including dentistry, diagnostic services and treatment protocols - an MOU may be appropriate. Development of a systems approach to medical services is preferable. This requires implementation of a consistent set of policies, procedures and protocols relating to treatment, admission criteria, transfer for treatment, medication regimes, records and administration systems applies at each prison to ensure consistency in standard of health care. Managers should be aware of local health care standards, relative to the facilities provided in the prisons. A communications strategy may be necessary to reduce the likelihood of negative local publicity about any perceived higher levels of care being provided to prisoners. The same principles in relation to ‘duty of care’ as described in Section (ii) on Catering are relevant.

86. In establishing the roles of health services practitioners in prisons (whether fulltime or part time providers of services) a training program which addresses the issues relating to the treatment of prisoners as patients is necessary if safety and security are not to be compromised. This is a key issue for both international and national health practitioners since it is likely that many have no prior experience of prison dynamics, safety and security issues. Access to courses conducted by agencies such as ICRC for nurses may be beneficial. Provision of health education programs to prisoners is desirable given the significance of basic health issues in post conflict situations particularly concerning infectious diseases.

Mental Health

87. The provision of psychiatric services may be more problematic in the immediate post conflict situation. The host country may be devoid of these services and it may be necessary to access these through an international programme partner. Developing an understanding of how mental illness has traditionally been managed in the community can provide strategies for management in prison in the absence of regular psychiatric services. Whether a psychiatric unit can be established will in part be determined by the demand for the service, and the resources available. In other circumstances these prisoners will need to be managed within the prison population.

(d) Family Visits

88. Facilitating family visits is likely to be a key issue in any post conflict situation. Not only are there international standards, which must be adhered to but also it is possible that under an earlier regime restrictive practices and abuses may have occurred. The facilitation of family visits will be a key strategy in developing the new prison service and as part of establishing the confidence of the public and easing tension in the prison.

(e) Deaths

89. International staff should be aware that differing rituals accompany death in different cultures and to the extent possible given security constraints the local customs should be implemented in the case of the death of a prisoner. This is an issue that warrants inclusion in the international staff pre-deployment/orientation/induction courses.


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8. Special Prisoner Categories

(a) Pre-trial Detainees

90. In a post conflict situation the majority of prisoners may be pre trial detainees, held for extended periods due to limited courts capacity and inadequate numbers of judicial officials. Experience demonstrates this issue has the potential to create major unrest in the prisons therefore Prison Managers should actively address issues relating to the legitimacy of detention, work closely with the courts on this issue and manage the potential discontent arising from this situation in the prisons. Where court administration systems are not well developed it may be useful to provide courts with advance listings of the details of detainees whose warrants are due to expire in the near future.

(b) Minority Groups (Women, Juveniles and Mentally Ill)

91. Prison Managers may need to take a more interventionist approach than they may be familiar with in managing these minority groups in prison populations. In post conflict situations, courts may more regularly sentence individuals to imprisonment as a result of there being limited or no social support systems to address the needs of these groups outside of the incarceration framework (such as special juvenile corrective institutions or structured community based programmes). As a result there may be larger than normal minority populations in prisons. Establishing relevant Steering Committees comprising national and international officers from other organisations (e.g. UNICEF, UN Human Rights Unit personnel) can assist in developing longer term strategies for the proper management of minority groups and in particular ensuring that imprisonment is not used inappropriately.

92. Developing tailored models of service delivery in which specific services and programs are provided to these minority groups by external agencies – such as government departments or NGOs can be an effective strategy by diversifying the sources of support and giving life to the principle of ‘community prison’. More pragmatically diversification of funding sources is likely to provide better support for the Prison Service in the longer term. Sources of funding for NGO’s are likely to be from international agencies (ege.g. UNICEF enables access to wider range of expertise and quality control including accountability measures for situations where juveniles are in the corrections system).

(c) War Crimes / Organised Crime / Other High Risk Prisoners

93. High risk prisoners generally require separate management from mainstream prisoners but this may be neither possible nor necessary and Prison Managers should be guided by the specifics of the situation and develop effective working relationships with key police, judicial officials and local personnel in relation to the broader contextual issues relating to these groups.


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9. Emergency Management

(a) Emergency Policy and Procedures

94. In addition to developing contingency plans for the range of incidents which can occur in a prison and which can be managed from within the prison resources there is also a need to develop contingency plans with the ‘police command centre’ and regional police commanders. Experience in missions indicates that it cannot be assumed that the police and prison management have a shared understanding of the principles relating to the management of internal disturbances in prisons. As a result, extensive consultation is necessary in the development of emergency policies and procedures. The reality of regular rotation of both corrections and police contingents, particularly police command, also underlies the need for regular structured meetings with police command.

(b) Specialist Units

Dog Squads

95. Additional security measure may be considered necessary and this could include the addition of canine patrols etc. In the event that a ‘Dog Squad’ is considered necessary it is likely that specialised support will be required outside of the UN structure, probably through external funding from a donor. It is important to consider whether there is likely to be sufficient funding for continuation of the unit is realistically available within future budgets and includes systems for training and management of the dogs (including food and veterinary services) since dog squads are resource intensive and both dogs and trainers require considerable training.

Armed Units and Emergency Unit

96. The need to establish an Emergency Unit may not arise during the life of a mission, however, related issues such as whether the prison service will be an armed service will need to be addressed. This issue of whether armed units should be in a prison is informed by a number of issues, including - the legal frameworks in the territory, previous history in prison management, an assessment of current and future need in accordance with the prison management philosophy that has been adopted, as well as the views of the contributing countries that have provided corrections officers.

(c) Intelligence

97. An intelligence capacity should be established within the prison service and establish close with the cooperation of police and involve both local and international staff and be established (even in a rudimentary form) early in the mission.


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10. Prisoner Programmes

98. Prisoner programmes in this document are those structured activities with the prison system that are designed to provide prisoners with a rehabilitation aspect in serving their sentence. In this context they relate to a minimum number of activities such as education, employment and religious observances. Others may be added if resources, capacity and local conditions are appropriate to do so. Prisoner programs may work most effectively using a model of outsourced/external service delivery, which provides for diversified budget sources and a range of agencies participating in prisoner development since this provides for a greater guarantee of ongoing funding and support. Experience indicates that implementation of rehabilitation programs directed toward addressing offending behaviour areis neither realistic nor appropriate during a transitional administration unless local expertise in developing such programs is available.

(a) Education

99. The development of a formal arrangement with the Department of Education or other education service provider for provision of education services for all prisoners is desirable. Alternatively local or international NGO’s may provide literacy and numeracy courses. The rehabilitation of education facilities is likely to be an attractive option for donors who would otherwise not wish to be involved in prison rehabilitation.

(b) Employment

100. Rehabilitation of vocational training and industrial workshops is likely to be an attractive option for donors subject to the constraints that the indicative future host territory budgets are able to sustain the initiative and that the industry/training being proposed is appropriate to the cultural framework and based on community need. In the early re-establishment of a prison, prisoners and staff can be engaged in rebuilding efforts in much of the prison without compromising security. Traditional domestic cleaning, catering and gardening are likely to be the primary employment in the prison until workshops can be established (mindful that pre trial prisoners cannot be forced to work).

(c) Religion

101. Ensuring that prisoners of all religions have the opportunity to practice their religion whilst in prison is a fundamental right. Actively encouraging and facilitating the attendance of clerics and leaders of all religions of whom there are adherents in prison is a responsibility of prison managers.


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11. Transition and Exit Strategy

(a) Transition planning

102. At the commencement of the mission, the eventual duration of the mandate is rarely known. It is probable, however, that it will be less than that which is desirable to train and develop the national corrections system personnel effectively and establish all aspects of a fully developed correctional system. The significance of this lies in the need therefore to recruit staff at all levels and across disciplines at the earliest time to ensure national staff have the longest possible period of exposure to working with, and learning from the experience of, international staff.

103. It is desirable that a separate transition plan be developed which is linked to the Prison Service annual strategic plan for corrections and is amended as conditions change, with particular regard for changes in mandate extensions. Transition planning should involve local and international corrections staff and if it is to be highly regarded by national staff at all levels, including the political level, will necessarily also involve national and international personnel from other agencies affected by the downsizing of the international UN complement (particularly the other components of the criminal justice system). These external agencies need to be provided with clear guidance on the timing of transition in the prison service to calibrate their own plans. The transition plan should include a clear articulation of the risks inherent in transitioning roles from international staff to national staff. This risk profile enables active tracking and management of the transition. Pilot transition projects are advisable and should be closely examined to inform the broader transition. Experience indicates that dislocation of support occurs where international corrections management does not engage UNDP and other longer term potential bilateral donors sufficiently early in the transition process.

104. Anticipating the changing corrections roles that will be required during the transition period (e.g. moving from line management to supervision to advisor, to mentor and monitor) is importantimportant, as is preparation of relevant job descriptions and timely recruitment. As transition planning begins, all international staff must be clearly advised about the implications for their work and the required attitude shifts. It is likely to require all staff to demonstrate significant flexibility in being responsive to the current needs in mission. It is also about being able to allow national staff to make mistakes (within reasonable limits) as they assume functions.

(b) Co-location, Shadowing and Mentoring

105. As mentoring is a substantial aspect of almost all roles in establishing executive services under Transitional Administrations, mentoring and tutoring skills should be given significant weight in assessing candidates for international corrections posts. Mentoring skills should be reflected in job descriptions and the importance of it should be reflected in both interviews and in pre-deployment training. Mentoring becomes increasingly important through the life of the mission, particularly in the latter stages.


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Some Definitions

Mentoring - a process of providing support and development to national staff for whom international staff have no direct line supervisory responsibilities. It is an advisory and supportive role.

Supervisor – refers to direct operational line responsibility for national staff.

Shadowing – a process whereby a national staff officer who is appointed to carry out a specified set of responsibilities either shadows or is shadowed by an international officer. In some contexts (such as the police in the police missions in the Balkans) this is role also referred to as a Co-location.

106. The co-location of international staff with local counterparts is recognized as a key strategy for maximising potential learning and development, as much through shared experience as through any structures on the job training. Whilst logistical issues may present some difficulties in achieving this other arrangements inevitably minimise the potential impact of the training and development of national staff. Mentors need not be co-located since mentoring is more a process in which national counterparts review their work and work issues and explore various options and strategies for managing those issues with a mentor who is not a direct line supervisor.

107. Shadowing generally requires co-location, at least for a period of time. During the initial shadowing period the national officer appointed in either an acting or permanent capacity to the position shadows the international officer for an agreed period of time observing and being trained to undertake all aspects of the position. By an agreed process the national officer assumes responsibility for various aspects of the role with the international assuming the shadowing role providing support and guidance as necessary. At the time the national officer assumes full responsibility for the role collocation should no longer be required.

108. A significant part of each international officer’s role will be ‘on the job’ training of those national staff that report directly to the international officer. The complexities inherent in of international staff assuming line responsibilities whilst being shadowed by local staff should not be underestimated by management and will require ongoing encouragement and support of both the international and national staff members.

(c) Operational Hand-over

109. The transition plan must include details of handover of responsibilities currently undertaken by CivPol and other agencies and a determination needs to be made as to whether these roles will be assumed by corrections staff or the local police or other agency. This aspect of the handover is likely to involve extensive consultation with international and local actors having implications for recruitment, training and future budget requirements. A clear timetable for handover should be devised and followed. It should also be regularly reviewed on the basis of how aspects of the handover are happening in practice. Lower level operational responsibilities are likely to be transitioned first with managerial positions last.

110. The strategic plan and any operational plans developed at regional prison level will also provide the linkages for operational handover.


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(d) Withdrawal of International Staff

111. International staff should be withdrawn and repatriated, as positions are transitioned over to national staff and as a structured period of mentoring and monitoring is completed and managers (both national and international) are satisfied that functions are substantively handed-over.


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INUNITED NATIONSPEACEKEEPING

ANNEXES AND APPENDICES



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ANNEX 1: CASE STUDIES


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ANNEX 2: TOOLBOX


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