The penitentiary employees will be trained in a repaired block of the Training Center of the Department of Penitentiary Institutions situated in Goieni village of Chisinau municipality. The block was inaugurated on October 11, Info-Prim Neo reports. The center was founded in 1995 and has not been extensively repaired since then. Now it has more classrooms outfitted with computers and new furniture. The renovation was possible with the financial assistance of the European Union and the United Nations Development Program that allocated about 2 million lei. The Training Center’s head Aliona Rosca said that now the institution has five classrooms, a festivity hall, meeting halls for seminars, a protocol hall, a psychology laboratory and a computer room. About 600 employees of penitentiaries are trained at the center annually. A number of 28 persons are currently attending courses there. Attending the inauguration, the Head of the EU Delegation to Moldova Dirk Schuebel said that the center must promote the good practices as regards prison management and prevention of ill-treatment and torture. “The Training Center is crucial in developing educational culture among employees of the penitentiary system and reducing internal opposition to reform. It will contribute to improving the capacities of penitentiary employees and to their development. Professionalization will inevitably lead to the prevention of inhuman treatment and torture in jails,” said Dirk Schuebel. The Ambassador also said that at the end of next year the EU plans to launch a project that will support the enforcement, rehabilitation and probation systems in Moldova. This project will increase the Department of Penitentiary Institutions’ contribution to working out and implementing the justice reform strategy and to coordinating the reform. UNDP Deputy Resident Representative Matilda Dimovska said the reconstruction of the Training Center was a priority for the UNDP and the EU not only because there is a large number of beneficiaries, but also because the respect for human rights can be ensured only if the employees of the Department of Penitentiary Institutions are continuously and properly trained. Deputy Minister of Justice Vladimir Grosu said it is regrettable that Moldova is in a difficult financial situation and is unable to initiate such projects and finance them by itself. “On the other hand, in 2008 the Government made effort and renovated the first floor of the block. The EU and UNDP later provided assistance and we could finish the repair works,” he stated. As many as 5 688 persons have received training at the center since 1995.