Digitization of Correctional Services (MD0077)

Problem description:

The aim of correctional services is to guarantee the safety of society through the rehabilitation and social reintegration of convicted persons. This goal can only be achieved if state intervention is efficient and convicted persons learn to be able to lead an independent and honest law-abiding life. Both the penitentiary system and the probation system work with people that pose various risks, and interventions should often be prompt, efficient and individualised. Currently, the National Administration of Penitentiaries (NAP), subordinated to the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) operates with the Register of detained, arrested and convicted persons (SIA RPRAC) imported from Estonia, in 2008, institutionalised in 2013. It is a database with the electronic records of prisoners. Currently, primary data is collected manually, by prison the employee/employees of the penitentiary institution, based on paper documents issued by state institutions in the field of justice. The proportion of time occupied for this activity is approximately 30% - 40% of the effort. In a penitentiary 20 institution, for example, 132 paper Registers are filled in, containing information that have to also be entered into the database. A simple process such as granting a phone call requires the countersignature of the convicted person’s application by at least 4 services (only in Rusca Penitentiary, applications are filed for 1000 signatures, every week, to ensure a right guaranteed by law). After 10 years of operation, the SIA RPRAC requires updating/replacement. This database does not generate reports or statistical data that could be promptly used in interventions or analysed for the adoption of evidencebased policy. Thus, although the penitentiary system has the mission of correcting and resocialising convicts, the financial and human resources currently invested are used irrationally. The National Probation Inspectorate (NPI) does not have its own information system. Processes, document flow and file management are paper-based. Probation counsellors enter data on probation subjects into the “Casper” information system belonging to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Suggestions by the NPI on the creation of new filters or functions to enable the generation of statistical data have not been realised so far. The NPI, with a limited workforce of 325 employees, manages to date a number of approximately 9-10 thousand subjects. Currently, the exchange of documents with the courts is conducted through the postal service. The Chișinău Probation Office alone, which employs 45 staff (daily workload of approximately 1,600 files), has managed in 2022 over 10,825 incoming documents and 11,937 outgoing documents. In the absence of an information system or digital work tools, it is difficult to 21 raise the quality of probation services. The record and supervision of convicted persons prevails to the detriment of resocialization interventions.

Description of the commitment:

a) what the commitment entails Recognising the importance of digital transformation to ensure effective, secure and transparent management in correctional systems, the commitment involves creating the enabling preconditions for the introduction of an electronic offender management system for penitentiaries and probation. The electronic offender management system can contribute to: (a) Respect for human rights, prevention of abuses; (b)Streamlining the resources management and the speed of document processing; (c) Increasing citizens’ confidence in justice by making correctional systems more transparent and accountable. Thus the actions in this commitment are aligned with a project implemented by UNDP with funding from INL for the period 2024-2026. The object of efficient and modern administration of the justice sector is anchored in the Strategy on Ensuring the Independence and Integrity of the Justice Sector for 2022-2025 and the Action Plan for its implementation, approved by Law No 211/2021.

b) what are the expected results 1. The level of digitization in justice increases from score 1 to score 2, according to World Bank estimates (where score 5 assumes the use of artificial intelligence in the institution) 2. Reducing the time dedicated to entering of primary data in penitentiaries, from 30% to 22 20%, by the end of 2025. 3. Number of paper registers in penitentiaries reduced by half, by the end of 2025. 4. Report on analysis and re-engineering of probation processes, by the end of 2024. 5. Matrix with indicators for performance monitoring and evaluation in the prison system (KPIs) approved.

c) major objective Digital transformation of correctional systems for better government of these institutions and respect for human rights.

Activities | Responsible PA/Partner | Duration of action

3.7.1. Mapping of registers, identification of those to be repealed with duplicate information. | Ministry of Justice, National Administration of Penitentiaries and National Probation Inspectorate, in partnership with Promo-lex (on the dimension of torture prevention) | 2024

3.7.2. Mapping processes in NAP and NPI, prioritizing those that can be automated. | Ministry of Justice, National Administration of Penitentiaries and National Probation Inspectorate in partnership with the Association for Participatory Criminal Justice (for probation) | 2024

3.7.3. Defining outcome indicators for performance evaluation in penitentiaries and probation. | Ministry of Justice, National Administration of Penitentiaries and National Probation Inspectorate in partnership with the National Bureau of Statistics | 2024

3.7.4. Defining the information that should be interoperable with the police, the Prosecutor’s Office, the courts. | Ministry of Justice with subordinate entities: NAP, NPI ACA, LIRA in partnership with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, General Prosecutor’s Office, etc. | 2024

3.7.5. Designing a mechanism for automated reporting of cases of violence, injuries, suicide attempts, deaths and suicides to the Prosecutor’s Office. | Ministry of Justice and National Administration of Penitentiaries in partnership with the General Prosecutor’s Office and the A.O. Promo-LEX. | 2024

3.7.6. Evaluation of work processes in probation and development of a business analysis report. | Ministry of Justice and National Probation Inspectorate in partnership with the Association for Participatory Criminal Justice | 2024

Action Plan Review

Commitment 3. Digitization of Correctional Services