Featured Blog
In this fourth blog as part of our Global Prison Trends 2020 blog series, Catherine Heard explains the disparities in sentencing people for criminal offences based on a study of ten countries.
Expert guest for PRI5th August 2020
La epidemia de Covid-19 ha provocado una variedad de respuestas por parte de los sistemas penitenciarios y de justicia, pero en general la difícil situación de las mujeres ha sido pasada por alto o directamente ignorada. Si no se producen evaluaciones y respuestas al coronavirus que contengan un perspectiva de género específica, la vida de las mujeres en el sistema penal seguirá en riesgo y continuarán registrándose violaciones a sus derechos.
27th July 2020
In the third blog of our series exploring trends covered in Global Prison Trends 2020, Jeanne Hirschberger - researcher for the report - explains prison budgets. Jeanne details the levels of inadequate resourcing for prisons globally and the impact of this on the human rights of those detained.
Expert guest for PRI24th July 2020
In this second expert blog of our series to explore trends documented in Global Prison Trends 2020, Benny Goedbloed – an expert on Technology for Prisons and Probation – writes about the different technologies employed by prisons as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. Goedbloed also lays out recommendations to ensure such technologies remain not only effective but for the benefit of persons detained, both during and after the pandemic.
Expert guest for PRI17th July 2020
In this blog, as we publish a new briefing on coronavirus and criminal justice systems, Penal Reform International’s Executive Director, Florian Irminger, reflects on measures taken in response to the pandemic and what needs to be done - now and in the longer term - to prevent harm and human rights violations.
14th July 2020
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. In this article written for PRI, Professor Dirk van Zyl Smit, who was expert adviser to the Penological Council of the Council of Europe on the revision, shares his first thoughts on what these new limitations on separation and solitary confinement mean for prison management and the human rights of prisoners.
Expert guest for PRI10th July 2020
In this expert blog, the President of the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights, Joel Hernández, writes about alternatives to pre-trial detention in the Americas where the number of people held in remand are excessively high. Commissioner Hernández calls for the use of alternatives as an urgent measure to protect human rights - during the COVID-19 crisis and longer-term.This is the first expert blog in a new series where leaders, practitioners and academics will share their expertise to delve into trends and analysis from Global Prison Trends 2020.
Expert guest for PRI15th June 2020
In this blog, Justice Imman Ali, a judge of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh and a member of PRI’s Board explains how they managed to release 20,938 adults from pre-trial detention in 10 working days and 343 children from custody in the space of 7 working days as part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
11th June 2020
The coronavirus pandemic has shed a light on the crisis state of criminal justice and prison systems, but in this the plight of women has somewhat been neglected, or overtly disregarded. Without a gender-specific assessment and response to coronavirus, lives of women are at risk and human rights violations will continue.
4th June 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.
Expert guest for PRI1st June 2020
In this expert blog for PRI, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ilze Brands Kehris says COVID-19 has exposed the urgent need for long-term societal and institutional reform and that human rights must be front and centre of the global response to the pandemic. This blog draws on the remarks made by the Assistant-Secretary General at the launch of Global Prison Trends 2020.
Expert guest for PRI11th May 2020