Foreign experience in training probation officers used to prepare specialists for penitentiary inspections of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia

Foreign probation service admits applicants with basic education in social work (up to 95%). The training is based on multilevel education including social subjects. The first level is a five day introductory interdisciplinary course where trainees get special knowledge of the objectives and methods of probation service, its specifics and official duties. The second level is a compulsory basic training which comprises psychology, administrative law and principles of prisons’ and probation service functioning. The third level is composed of optional courses of advanced training where inspectors acquire special knowledge about methods of dealing with drug- and alcohol-addicts and mentally unstable people. Thus, foreign experience of probation specialists’ training introduced into the process of educating personnel for penal inspections can raise the quality of training specialists who do not have basic education or require advanced education.