Breaking Silos Behind Bars (PID224)

1pm – 1.30pm GMT, 27 October 2026 ‐ 30 mins

Room: Meeting Room 2A (Level 3)

Parallel Workshops

The presentation proposes a multi-stakeholder partnership model for prison system reform, grounded in over a decade of collaboration between a prison trade union - National Union of Prison Officers of Romania (SNPP) and an NGO - EASI. 
The central argument is that sustainable reform cannot be achieved through top-down approaches or in separate silos but requires structured collaboration among four categories of actors - prison administrations, trade unions, NGOs, and academic partners - each contributing complementary knowledge, with trade unions bringing in particular the institutional memory and legitimacy among frontline staff. 
The lessons drawn from European-funded projects co-implemented by SNPP and EASI address working conditions, competency development, and social dialogue, demonstrating that the early involvement of trade unions transforms institutional resistance into professional ownership and confers upon reform the internal legitimacy needed for it to be sustainable.