Featured Blog
One week after International Women’s Day, a coalition of organisations and experts convened to address the rising trend of women’s criminalisation driven by poverty in a side event at the 68th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in New York on 15 March. The event highlighted the intersections of gender, […]
4th April 2024
Featured Blog
Figure 1: Principles of Growth Wheel In this blog written for PRI, the authors Makayla Agyemang and Dr Sarah Lewis from UK-based Penal Reform Solutions, present the “Growth Project” that they have implemented in English prisons to foster rehabilitative relationships between people detained and staff in prison facilities. The project is based on Dr […]
14th February 2024
Despite universal prohibition, torture, inhuman and degrading treatment continue to be used in places of detention, especially during interrogation or police custody. In this blog, Valentina Cadelo from the Association for the Prevention of Torture presents the Principles on Effective Interviewing for Investigations and Information Gathering (the Méndez Principles) – a concrete human rights-based alternative […]
13th October 2022
“Around the world, NPM budgets are tiny percentages of overall prison and detention budgets – less than a fraction of a percent” and yet their financial independence is far from guaranteed. In this blog, Ben Buckland from the Association for the Prevention of Torture examines the elements of financial independence for NPMs, and trends and […]
16th August 2022
The European Prison Rules (and their Commentary) were recently revised by the Council of Europe. The most notable changes arguably concern the rules guiding prison authorities on the separation and solitary confinement of prisoners. This comes at a time where separation has become more commonplace with COVID-19 restrictions in place. The practice of solitary confinement […]
10th July 2020
In this external expert blog for PRI, Giorgi Burjanadze, Deputy Ombudsperson in Georgia and member of the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) mandated to conduct the monitoring of detention facilities, shares how they adapted its methodology to continue its critical work during the Covid-19 pandemic.
1st June 2020
The usage and types of equipment in prisons and other places of detention is wide ranging and varies from country to country. In this blog, the Omega Research Foundation reflects on the growth of less lethal weapons available to officers and ongoing efforts for transparency. In recent years there has been a growth in the […]
18th March 2020
“It all started with a meeting…” 30 years ago, Vivien Stern, Ahmed Othmani and Hans Tulkens created Penal Reform International. They had in common the belief we still cherish, as stated by Nelson Mandela: “No one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails”. In other words, the health of criminal justice […]
21st November 2019
The UN Nelson Mandela Rules state that ‘the use of chains, irons or other instruments of restraint which are inherently degrading or painful shall be prohibited’. With no global prohibitions on the manufacture, trade and use of torture equipment however, it is highly important that independent monitoring bodies are able to effectively monitor the use of weapons […]
10th December 2018
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) persons in detention – or persons perceived as belonging to this group – are in a situation of particular vulnerability and at risk of human rights violations and abuses, including by fellow detainees, throughout the entire criminal justice system. In this blog, Jean-Sébastien Blanc of the Association for the Prevention […]
4th December 2018
The importance of independent external monitoring of prisons to prevent torture or ill-treatment from occurring is well established. Internal inspections can also play a crucial role however, and the Nelson Mandela Rules require a two-fold system that includes regular internal or administrative inspections conducted by the central prison administration. In this expert blog, Mary Rogan looks […]
12th September 2018
PRI has launched its annual flagship publication, Global Prison Trends 2018. Here we publish the foreword to the report, written by the Rt Hon Helen Clark, a Member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, Former Prime Minister of New Zealand, and Former Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme. Every year, Global Prison Trends by […]
15th May 2018