Article 11: Values Before Models: Foundational Values as Drivers of Change and Cross-National Learning in European Jurisdictions

https://doi.org/10.65264/ADBQ6494

Across European correctional settings, the prospects for systemic reform remain severely constrained. However, meaningful change is occurring within individual detention facilities on a daily basis. Overcrowding, understaffing, and insufficient resources exert persistent pressure on these environments, resulting in tangible consequences for those in custody and the personnel working alongside them. Within this context, practitioners dedicated to humane correctional practices are developing small-scale, values-driven initiatives that modify the daily conditions of confinement from within existing frameworks, without awaiting political mandates or legislative amendments. Drawing on expert interviews conducted across various European jurisdictions and analyzed through reflexive thematic analysis, this article investigates the factors enabling such change and the mechanisms by which it disseminates across national borders. Its central argument is that foundational values, rather than programs or institutional models, travel across national boundaries. Recognizing this has significant implications for how corrections approach both the design of change within facilities and the purpose of exchange.

Keywords: Organizational Change; Foundational Values; Relational Practice; Cross-National Exchange; Human Dignity; Detention Facilities; Small-Scale Initiatives; Values-Based Recruitment