The Working Group on Internal Security is a new NISPAcee Working Group, which objectives are:

• to provide common ground for comparative research, joint research programs and international cooperation on training and exchange of experience between practitioners and researcher of prison, police and other areas on internal security.

At the beginning of 1990-ies in many Central and Eastern European countries policing (often called also "militia"), implementation of imprisonment and other spheres of internal security were military or paramilitary organizations with little transparency and accountability, with highly horizontal, byrocratic, and authorial organization and management culture, with poorly educated and also poorly paid stuff, and high risk of breaching of human rights (in the sense of the Western Europe has understood the concept of human rights, at least) and little legal guaranties for the person they approached.

During last two decades in many countries of Central and Eastern Europe arrangement of these state functions has been de-militarized, often administration of prison and some functions of police or prosecution have been moved from dominion of ministry of internal affairs to dominion of ministry of justice. The set of legislation in these areas has gone through tremendous changes and developments, introducing new legal guaranties for people and making agencies and officers more accountable for their decisions and activities. There is usually remarkable shift towards openness and transparency in these organizations (introduction of visiting boards, legal ombudsman and other control bodies, allowing CPT visits, etc) and in many cases the organizational culture and management has become less formal and authorial.

For a great share these changes have been introduced due to external influence (preparation for joining EU, membership in UN, reports of OECD, etc), but there are also internal factors (use of ICT, improvement of physical conditions (buildings and erections, vehicles, equipment), change in social values, economic conditions, general constitutional and legal framework, etc) having impact on those changes. The development of policing and implementation of imprisonment has been very different in countries of Central and Easter Europe, even if there have been similar conditions and developments in other areas of government.