HEUNI has a longstanding tradition in prison research, for example prisons in Eastern Europe. Since the 1990’s prison systems in Eastern Europe have been surveyed. In the 2000’s the work was focused on prison health issues in Eastern Europe. HEUNI has also initiated the introduction of a prison handbook for the training of prison staff in Russia. HEUNI is coordinating together with the UNODC the preparatory work concerning the organisation of a workshop for the XII United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. The workshop deals with the standard minimum rules on the treatment of prisoners.