A closed international Roundtable Meeting of Chief Executive Officers of the prison and correctional services is held in Finland on 11-13 November 2007. The goal of the regular Roundtable co-operation of Chief Executive Officers is to share information and experiences on the development of influencing recidivism in different countries.

The agenda of the Roundtable Meeting assembling both in Helsinki and Turku includes besides the current prison service matters of the member countries, also new research data on the field. For instance, the research results on the situation of mentally ill prisoners of the member countries are discussed in the meeting under the headline of ”Approaches to the Care and Management of Mentally Ill Prisoners”.

IRCE (International Roundtable for Correctional Excellence) is an international forum where the Chief Executive Officers of the prison and correctional services assembling twice a year discuss the main development lines, innovations and best policies of prison services. The current IRCE members are Belgium, Netherlands, Ireland, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, New Zeeland, Canada and Scotland.

Director General of the Prison Service Esa Vesterbacka acts as the chair of the meeting. The second day of the meeting is held in the new Turku Prison and the programme includes a detailed tour in the prison.

Further information: Secretary for International Affairs Virva Ojanperä-Kataja Tel. +358 50 572 2949