Specifically, we aimed to foster multi-agency stakeholder collaboration, create knowledge and evidence of successful recruitment, training, and mentoring strategies for correctional staff in European countries, and creating an online-competency list for trainee mentors. PRISGRADS explored key recruitment mechanisms, competency frameworks, and mentorship & training programmes that influence how graduates - and generally new recruits - transition into working in the correctional services. We aimed to foster cross-border collaboration and support the early-development for sustainable employment pathways in alignment with the EU labour market needs, which benefit prison services and the professionals entering the sector. It was crucial to us to analyse existing employment pathways and subsequently increase the knowledge of such pathways and recruitment and training strategies in at least six EU countries, and analysing their effectiveness and adaptability across various legal and institutional frameworks. Additionally, we identified key competencies and skills required for successful mentors working with new professionals entering the prison services, ensuring that recruitment efforts align with the demands of prison environments,
We applied for this project due to an identified need within prison services to think more flexibly about the recruitment, training and mentoring of prison staff in European correctional services. We identified a crucial lack of knowledge of existing pathways and innovative programmes for new recruits, and identified the need for furthering the exchange and implementation across the EU member states. The PRISGRADS project aimed to evaluate and improve the understanding of these pathways. The European correctional services, as many public sectors, suffer from a shortage of professionals further impacting the correctional services’ pressure affecting both existing staff and those incarcerated. At the same time, there is little room to create innovative approaches to respond to EU Labour market needs. Additionally, we identified the need to learn from VET advancements in other sectors and start a shift towards work-based learning as well as key competency development to support a more adaptive workforce within the correctional services of our countries. Such investments would eventually result in a more resilient workforce and a more attractive future-oriented sector responding to aforementioned labour market needs.