PRI opened its Washington, DC, office in 2002. The North America programme focuses on penal reform in the United States.

Socio-political context

The US is a large and wealthy federal republic with a written constitution and bill of rights. These guarantee a range of civil rights which are upheld by a robust rule of law system and a strong and independent judiciary. There is a large and vigorous civil society to hold federal and state governments to account. However, recent acts of terrorism within the US have been used by the government as a pretext to weaken fundamental civil and human rights.

The damage done to the social fabric by years of slavery, followed by legally supported racial separation and discrimination, continues. African Americans are over represented among the poorest groups in society and at all levels of the criminal justice system. In addition to the legacy of racism, fear and mistrust of new immigrants and growing income disparity are increasingly damaging social cohesion.

In part as a result of its history of slavery and discrimination, the US is a very punitive nation. It maintains the largest prison system in the world and continues to use the death penalty despite international condemnation.

Criminal justice in North America

Because the US is a federation with fifty autonomous states, it does not have a single criminal justice system. The federal system, which is overseen by the US Department of Justice in Washington, has its own laws, law enforcement officers, courts and prisons. Each state also has its own law enforcement officers, laws, courts and prisons. Within the states themselves, counties and some large cities have their own jail systems.

Federal laws are binding on people in every state, as are the decisions of the US Supreme Court. The US Supreme Court interprets the US Constitution and Bill of Rights. Its interpretation of the meaning of the 8th amendment to the Constitution, which outlaws cruel and unusual punishment, defines unacceptable prison conditions and the limitations on the use of the death penalty in the states. However, the US does not have national standards or a national system for prison monitoring and inspection. There is no body of law for prison administration.

Penal reform challenges in the region

The major penal reform challenge in the US is to counter the effects of the politically-driven crime policies of the past 30 years that have resulted in a dramatic increase in the prison population, which currently stands at 2.3 million. Political rhetoric continues to dehumanise prisoners, encouraging more punitive prison conditions and life-long sanctions.

Prisons are overcrowded and opportunities for rehabilitation through education, substance abuse treatment and vocational training have been curtailed, often in the face of opposition from corrections administrators. Prisons and prison services are increasingly being transferred to for-profit companies despite problems inherent in their cost-cutting approach. The lack of public health provisions within the US has led to an increasing number of people with mental health and substance abuse problems being detained in prison rather than in specialist care.

Young people under the age of 18, particularly African Americans, are regularly processed through the adult criminal justice system, consequently ending up in adult prisons and serving long sentences, which include life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

How PRI is addressing these challenges

PRI believes that international human rights standards and norms are powerful advocacy tools for criminal justice reformers who have traditionally relied on civil rights and constitutional law. PRI’s main focus of work in the US therefore is to bring an international perspective and understanding of the use of human rights laws, standards and norms to support the work being done by civil society and progressive prison administrators.

PRI has hosted a series of human rights workshops focusing on the use of United Nations mechanisms to advocate for criminal justice reform, on international human rights laws and norms for juvenile justice reform, and the use of human rights language to advocate for prisoners. In partnership with other social justice organisations, PRI has developed shadow reports in response to US submissions to the UN treaty bodies. PRI has also attended treaty body meetings to advocate for changes in policy and practice.

PRI supports reform efforts by sharing information and examples of good practice from other criminal justice systems. It achieves this in part by inviting reform experts from around the world to speak with their counterparts in the US. In support of PRI’s campaign for greater oversight of US prisons, prison inspectors from Europe have been invited to the US to meet with prison administrators, legal experts and reform advocates. PRI has similarly arranged for representatives from the Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT) to meet with corrections administrators to talk about the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture as an instrument to advance prison inspections. PRI has also co-sponsored a conference for prisoner rights advocates and prison administrators, with seminars led by international experts on prison inspections systems.