At the end of last year, a significant change was introduced to the parole system in Lithuania - a Central National Parole Board was established by order of the Head of the Lithuanian Prison Service. This new board replaced the nine separate boards that had previously operated in prisons.
The first meeting of the new parole board was held in early January and was attended by 11 experts from the Lithuanian Prison Service, Lithuanian Probation Service, non-governmental organisations, associations, academic institutions and state and municipal bodies. The Law Institute of the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences has delegated Dr. Mindaugas Lankauskas and Dr. Rūta Vaičiūnienė (as an alternate member) to the parole board for a two-year term.
It is expected that this centralised parole board will be able to assess the individual circumstances of each prisoner more professionally and make well-informed decisions. For the first time in history, the members of the board will have access to anonymised information of inmates.
More information (in Lithuanian): https://kalejimai.lrv.lt/lt/naujienos/veikla-pradejo-naujos-sudeties-lygtinio-paleidimo-komisija/
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