One day a group of savanna animals wake up and see that someone has stolen the shoes from the store of Pere the hippopotamus. This is the beginning of the story ‘The Monkey Robert’, a book produced by the Catalan organisation Intress to explain to children what probation means. We spoke to Meritxell Campmajo, the author and Director of the Intress Probation Service in Catalonia, about the book.
The story begins when one day in the savanna, some animals wake up and see how overnight someone has stolen shoes from the store of the Pere the hippopotamus. The police elephants find out that the Monkey Robert is the one who committed this crime. The owl, a judge, gives him the choice between a prison sentence and repairing the damage he has done under the supervision of the Eagle, a probation officer. Robert the Monkey agrees on cleaning the market and help the other animals out. At first, he does not like his job, but the animals tell him how beautiful and clean the market looks after he cleaned it. This makes him proud and appreciate his work. After he is finished Pere the hippopotamus even offers him a job at his shoe store. Robert the Monkey has learned to work in a different way and Pere also learns what it is like to give people a second chance.
Intress, as a nonprofit association, has been working on a selection of a tales that wants to teach children about the social values of community intervention. ‘The Monkey Robert’ is the second book of the collection. The first one was about Iris, a little elephant, explaining the welcome in a migration process.
We are an organisation of professional experts in the social field that detects needs, designs projects and manages services with a model of attention focused on the person and the community. For us it is important to inform as many people as possible about the work we do. Especially for children it is important to learn about alternative measures to prison. We work to raise awareness about the importance of aiming for a more restorative and less punitive penal model.
The text in Robert Monkey story was written by me, and it was reviewed by different professionals working in the probation service managed by INTRESS. The illustrations are carried out by Kira Diaz, who had already illustrated the first tale of our collection.
The book is published in Spanish and Catalan.
Keep up to date with the latest developments, stories, and updates on probation from across Europe and beyond. Find relevant news and insights shaping the field today.
From 18-20 November 2025, 15th Plenary Meeting of the Council for Penological Co-operation took part in Council of Europe, Strasbourg. CEP was represented by President Annie Devos, Vice-Presidents Danijela Mrhar Prelic (PC-CP member) and Daniel Danglades and Secretary General Jana Spero Kamenjarin.
The CEP Expert Group on Mental Health met on 19 November 2025 to continue its work on developing a European mental health training curriculum for probation officers. Since last year, the group has been working intensively and meticulously to produce a solid first version of the curriculum.
CEP has released the first cross-European study examining stress, burnout, and morale among probation staff. The report was produced by Professor Charlie Brooker, Professor Karen Tocque, Professor Ioan Durnescu and Liliana Lupsica, whose combined expertise in public health, criminology, and organisational analysis provides an important contribution to our understanding of well-being in probation work.
On 12 and 13 November 2025, CEP Secretary General Jana Špero Kamenjarin participated in the Multilateral Meeting on Women in Prison: Advancing Gender-Sensitive Policies and Practices, at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. The meeting brought together representatives from 40 member states, penitentiary administrations, and international experts, united by a shared commitment to improving rehabilitation, reducing re-offending, and promoting gender equality in places of deprivation of liberty.
This book, Forensic Social Work – Supporting Desistance, has been released by Routledge. It is a practice-oriented resource exploring how forensic social work can support desistance and foster meaningful change in the lives of justice-involved individuals.
The 16th episode of Division_Y features Stephan Leißner, a public probation and parole officer at the Coburg Regional Court in Bavaria, Germany.
