Thomas Wüthrich (Switzerland)

Chairperson
Representative at the Council of Europe for the EPEA
E-mail: chair@epea.org

Master of Arts in History and Social Anthropology, University of Zurich

Executive Master in Non Profit Management, University of Applied Sciences Solothurn

Diploma as a the teacher in History and Civic Education at VET-schools.

I have been working in the penitentiary sector for twenty years now. During 10 years as a director of an NGO which, on behalf of the state, offered work places in a recycling workshop for the execution of community sanctions. In addition, a home for prisoners released from prison and a residential facility for prisoners for the stay before their conditional release belonged to that foundation.

After an interlude as director of a housing cooperative, I joined the prison education system in 2011. Within the Swiss Institute for Education in Prison, a department of the Swiss Centre of Competence in Prison and Probation, I’m the head of Eastern Switzerland and responsible for 14 teachers in 10 different prisons.

In addition I am President of the Association for the Development of Probationary Services in Eastern Europe and have been a volunteer there since 2006, co-designing and monitoring projects in the penitentiary system, e.g. in Romania, Greece and  in Moldova, funded by the Lottery Fund of the Canton of Zurich in Switzerland.

As a guest I also participated in the European K2-Project “Mentoring of teacher in Prison Education” in which the guidelines of the Swiss Institute for Education in Prison were included as best practice in the final output of the project.

Last but not least I organised jobshadowings for teachers in prison education with partners in Belgium, Spain and Greece.