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2026 European Symposium on Detention Houses
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One small step for detention houses, one giant leap for RESCALED

The European Movement for Detention Houses now has members in seventeen European countries!

For a movement, growth is important. But equally important is how you grow as a movement. RESCALED is a movement of people who share values on a personal level. We discuss, we laugh, we support each other with the RESCALED mission and vision in mind. We are honoured to welcome ten new members to the movement and look forward to all the synergies in the near future! On June 11th, the RESCALED General Assembly welcomed ten new members:

    • Release (Ireland)
    • Village of Hope (Estonia)
    • Richtungswechsel (Austria)
    • Associazione Antigone (Italy)
    • Association Possible (France)
    • Stichting Sileo (the Netherlands)
    • Silta-Valmennusyhdistys ry (Finland)
    • Coalition of NGOs for Child Protection KOMF (Kosovo)
    • CPIP - Center for Promoting Lifelong Learning (Romania)
    • Angelus Custos Association For Civil Society Development (Croatia)
RESCALED General Assembly June 2024 in Prague, the Czech Republic

Our movement also re-elected board members Berit Johnsen, Rogier Elshout, Hans Claus, Roger Nilsen and Gonçalo Noronha Andrade, and welcomed Birte Metz to the RESCALED Board. Tim Verbist has joined as an advisor to the Board!

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JUST IN: EU COUNCIL CONCLUSIONS ON SMALL-SCALE DETENTION

RESCALED Welcomes Landmark EU Council Conclusions Under Belgian Presidency (EU2024BE)

Brussels, 14 June 2025 — Today, the ministers for Justice of the 27 EU countries have unanimously expressed their support for the use of detention houses. They did so by adopting Council Conclusions on Small-scale Detention and thereby inviting all member states to consider, where appropriate, the use of small-scale detention facilities for custodial purposes, including detention houses, with the aim of limiting the negative impacts of detention, and ensuring better guidance for incarcerated persons on returning to society. The RESCALED Movement, a leading advocate for the use of detention houses in Europe, applauds the adoption of these Council Conclusions, as it marks a significant step towards a more sustainable justice system and a greener, fairer and more inclusive future. This is a strong and hopeful sign in times when many European prison systems are struggling with overcrowding, staff shortages or high recidivism rates.

© EU
Justice and Home Affairs Council (Justice), 14 June 2025

Key Highlights from the Council Conclusions:

      • Social rehabilitation and reintegration into society: Small-scale detention can better facilitate social rehabilitation and reintegration of incarcerated people into society, with the aim of helping prevent reoffending and building more inclusive communities
      • Small-scale, differentiated and community-integrated: The Member States are invited to explore and raise awareness for the potential benefits of small-scale, differentiated and community-integrated detention facilities and consider, where appropriate, the use of these facilities
      • Towards a safe and inclusive society: The Council considers small-scale detention to contribute to a better sense of community and better social integration, which may reduce reoffending. Thus, small-scale, differentiated and community-integrated detention facilities can help achieve safer and more resilient communities.

“We are thrilled to witness this political will to explore the benefits of small-scale, differentiated and community-integrated detention houses for European societies. It is hopeful to see the relation between effective justice policies and well-developed social policies reflected in the Council Conclusions on Small-scale Detention,? says Helene De Vos, Executive Director of RESCALED. “This milestone is part of a wider European movement towards a justice system that truly meets the needs of inclusive, safe and sustainable societies.?

Moving forward, the RESCALED Movement will continue to:

      • Map good practices of small-scale, differentiated and community-integrated detention facilities already existing all across Europe, see also https://inspirational-practices.rescaled.org
      • Increase the know-how on detention houses in collaboration with researchers and practitioners
      • Support national Ministries of Justice, prison administrations and local governments in the implementation of detention houses instead of large prison institutions
      • Engage with local communities to sustain support for detention houses by raising awareness of the benefits of small-scale, differentiation and community-integration

Read the full text of the Council Conclusions ‘Small-scale detention: focusing on social rehabilitation and reintegration into society’.

About RESCALED:

RESCALED, the European Movement for Detention Houses is a growing movement with members in seventeen countries: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Kosovo, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania and Spain. Some members manage small-scale detention houses, whilst others are involved in advocacy, in services to (formerly) incarcerated people and in research. RESCALED’s vision is that one day, societies are inclusive, safe and sustainable. For this purpose, it supports the use of detention houses instead of large prison institutions. Detention houses are small-scale, differentiated and community-integrated. They benefit not only incarcerated people but also their social network, potential victims, the criminal justice system, its staff and society at large. Detention houses allow for a better application of European laws and principles and contribute to restoration, reduced reoffending and social sustainability.

For more information, please contact:

Helene De Vos

Executive Director

RESCALED

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EUROPEAN SYMPOSIUM ON DETENTION HOUSES 20 & 21 March 2026

? Empowering voices, igniting change: together we can change the system! 

? The European Symposium on Detention Houses brought together diverse perspectives and expertise from across Europe, sharing knowledge about inspirational practices, addressing significant challenges and most of all, fostering a community committed to justice reform. 

The esteemed panel with Caron McCaffrey, Ewelina Dobrowolska, Franc Weerwind, Jan-Erik Sandlie, Karel DvoÅ™Ă¡k and Paul Van Tigchelt showed that there is political will in Europe to support this system change. 

đŸ‡ªđŸ‡º Daiana Huber, Jesca Beneder, Malgorzata Kozak and Radu Szekely reminded us of the importance to see detention houses as a shared responsibility of justice, education and employment and encouraged us to look beyond the different ‘silos’, departments or directorates-general we’re working in.

☕ We want to thank Jerry Lie, Stephan Tiele, Zoraya and Jemuel Lampe from Zuivere Koffie, the world’s first prison-based coffee roasters, for their invaluable contribution to this symposium: “People who have lived experience, give them a permanent seat in decision-making. I think we can change the world.? And of course for their amazing coffee!

đŸ’¡? A warm thank you to Tanja Dejanova, Annie Devos, and Hannah Graham for their thoughtful perspectives on net-widening and for asking critical and essential questions so that detention houses don’t increase the number of incarcerated people: How do we ensure people in the criminal justice can leave the net? And what other nets do we need to support them? 

?đŸŒ± Let’s applaud Petra Colpaert, Liz Ayre, Esteve Serna Rosello, and John Docherty for their pioneering efforts in advancing small-scale detention and presenting recommendations from day-to-day practice.

đŸ‡§đŸ‡ª Last but certainly not least, we are thankful to the Belgian Senate for graciously hosting us and to the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2024 for putting detention houses on the European agenda -  providing a platform for meaningful dialogue and collaboration in the heart of Brussels. To the RESCALED Team and Board for their hard work and to the RESCALED Members for their unwavering commitment to supporting the use of detention houses instead of large prison institutions: THANK YOU!

Let’s keep the momentum strong! 

Get in touch with us and continue the conversation.
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WISH-EU PROJECT - IT’S ALL ABOUT KNOWLEDGE & IMPACT

In March of 2022, a consortium of CSOs came together (De Huizen, Restorative Justice Netherlands, FARAPEJ, RESHAPE and Prison Insider) for the WISH-EU Project. WISH EU stands for Working in Small-Scale Detention Houses in Europe.


This European project, funded by the European Commission, aims to support the implementation of small-scale, differentiated and community-integrated detention houses or facilities in Europe. Throughout the project, members of the CSOs identified and visited over 30 good practices from various European regions that apply one or more of the aforementioned principles. This enabled us to centralize and disseminate the knowledge already in existence about relational security and small-scale, differentiated and community-integrated facilities in Europe.

Simultaneously, the WISH-EU Project brought together partners from national networks in multidisciplinary knowledge workspaces on detention houses - platforms for co-creating new knowledge and a network that fosters exchanges among practitioners, policymakers, researchers and individuals with lived experience. At the European level, we organized Learning Labs with participation from over 20 experts, who shared their insights on specific topics related to small-scale forms of detention.

Building upon this freshly acquired knowledge, we are in the process of developing policy frameworks such as European Rules on the Ecosystem of Detention Houses and European Guidelines on Relational Security.
Find out more here

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NOW TALKS 4# Privileges

On Thursday, September 29, 2022, the Maas youth panel organized the fourth NOW TALKS in collaboration with SPACE010 and Music Matters. The young people shine their light on the themes of privilege, power, and violence. Veronique Aicha (national coordinator at Restorative Justice Nederland, the Dutch office of RESCALED) and Leroy van der Hurk (The Rhythmic Poet) started the conversation with the public: are we all powerless or can we influence the system? In addition there was a performance by rapper/singer-songwriter QAQ (talent Music Matters).