On 14 July, a ceremonial event to celebrate the start of the construction of the Training Centre for employees of the Latvian Prison Administration was held in Olaine, where a capsule was laid in the foundation of the Centre.
The Olaine Training Centre is designed to provide the employees of the Latvian Prison Administration with the opportunity to learn in premises suitable for their work, using improved training programmes and new training methods for acquiring professional knowledge. The training centre will have a floor area of approximately 2 500 square metres and will include not only training rooms for employees, but also a conference room, a museum of the prison system, a reading room, a dormitory, as well as sports and practical training rooms. The training centre will be able to train 150 employees at a time. The Olaine Training Centre will open its doors in the first half of 2024 and will also play an important role in the training of staff for the new Liepaja Prison, providing a training environment and infrastructure appropriate for the new resocialisation system.
The construction of the training centre is implemented within the framework of the project of the Latvian Prison Administration "Establishment of Training centre infrastructure and model prison blocks for training opportunities in the Olaine prison territory" Nr.1-6.4/2-2019 with financial support from Norway Grants.
The construction of the facility is being carried out by Pillar Contractor SIA under a contract for EUR 6 364 029.82 (excluding VAT), of which 85% is financed by the Norwegian Government or Norway Grants, and 15% by the Latvian state budget.
Today, the message in the capsule is a symbolic testimony for future generations. Along with the message, the 2022 magazine of the Latvian Prison Administration was placed in the capsule, as well as a badge of a participant of the just-concluded Latvian Song and Dance Festival, a commemorative coin "Sunflower for Ukraine" of the Bank of Latvia, badges symbolising the successful cooperation between Latvia and Norway, and this week's issue of the magazine "IR", which will testify about the current events during the construction of the building.