From 1 to 3 November 2023, the Czech NGO Yellow Ribbon hosted an international round-table gathering of European prison and probation leaders including CEP in Prague with representatives of the Prison Service of the Czech Republic, the Probation and Mediation Service and the non-profit sector. Every year, the YRR brings together people from the public, private, and non-profit sectors as well as people with criminal backgrounds and those, who are still serving a sentence to run together against prejudice and to give a second chance to make a safer society.

More information can be found here.

Yellow Ribbon project is a public engagement initiative aimed at changing society’s mindset in giving people with criminal history second chances to integrate back into society. Through sports, cultural and educational events we focus on the topic of reintegration, support and destigmatisation of ex-offenders bearing in mind the wider negative influence of imprisonment on children and families as well as the restorative justice principals. The active participants and co-creators are imprisoned and released persons. The project aims to improve the conditions for the integration of people with a criminal record, to show the usefulness of their involvement in society and to present positively and attractively a topic that is on the margins of public interest.

A key innovation is the involvement of a wide range of actors from the public, non-governmental and corporate.