Featured Blog
30 years ago, Vivien Stern, Ahmed Othmani and Hans Tulkens created Penal Reform International. In the footsteps of our founders, and proud of all we have accomplished over the last 30 years, we now look forward and launch a new strategy, setting the tone of PRI’s evolution.
21st November 2019
In this blog, Dr. Sharon Shalev examines how to adopt a human rights centred approach in the use of solitary confinement in prisons.
Expert guest for PRI10th December 2019
This week the UN Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty was presented. In this blog PRI’s Taghreed Jaber summarises some of the key points from the Study and calls for follow-up.
22nd November 2019
In this blog, Aldyen Krieger, PRI’s Policy Intern, evaluates the primary drivers behind the high exposure to violence and increased mortality rate of persons deprived of liberty in reference to the report’s findings. She continues to link the report’s findings to the responsibilities enumerated in the Nelson Mandela Rules and specifically highlights Penal Reform International’s (PRI) contribution to discussions of self-harm and life sentences.
18th November 2019
In this blog, Billy Gorter from the organisation, This Life Cambodia, shares the findings of research undertaken on Why Children Accompany Women into Prison. It is particularly timely as the Global Study on Children Deprived of their Liberty is soon to be published in full, in the same week that the international community will mark the 30th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. From data gathered from a range of official statistics, the Global Study estimated that the number of children living in prisons with their primary caregivers is 19,000 children per year.
Expert guest for PRI4th November 2019
To mark the 17th World Day Against the Death Penalty on 10 October 2019, this expert blog by Oliver Robertson, an expert on abolition of the death penalty and rights of children whose parents are in prison, reflects on the impacts of having a parent sentenced to death or executed. The World Day 2019 is dedicated to raising awareness on the rights of children whose parents have been sentenced to death or executed.
9th October 2019
On 15 May 2019, the United Nations Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice published a new report evaluating the root causes of women’s deprivation of liberty. In this blog, Aldyen Krieger, a member of PRI’s policy programme, reflects on the unique path of victimisation and criminalisation many women offenders in criminal justice systems face and the continued importance of effective gender-specific penal reform in the wake of the report’s findings.
24th September 2019
Es así, que las voces de 70 NNAPES de entre 7 y 17 años de ocho países de la región -Brasil, Panamá, México, Costa Rica, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia y República Dominicana- han sido el principal insumo y la base sobre la que se produjo Niñez que Cuenta. El impacto de las políticas de drogas sobre niños, niñas y adolescentes con madres y padres encarcelados en América Latina y el Caribe, el estudio regional producido por Church World Service (Oficina Regional para América Latina y el Caribe) con la colaboración de Gurises Unidos (Uruguay).
Expert guest for PRI24th September 2019
This external expert blog details the findings of a new report, Childhood that matters: The impact of drug policy on children of incarcerated parents in Latin American and the Caribbean, a report led by Church World Service (Buenos Aires Regional Office) and Gurises Unidos (Uruguay). It is available in English and Spanish.
Expert guest for PRI24th September 2019
In this blog, PRI's Vicki Prais, looks at the challenges faced by elderly people in prison, sentenced to life imprisonment. Vicki notes that the ‘greying’ of the prison population has seen an upward trend and warrants attention as it is a group that will certainly grow given the rise in life sentences handed down globally.
Expert guest for PRI23rd August 2019
Georgia has a young democracy, and the country’s supreme law, the constitution, in the preamble states the priority of establishing the democratic social order, economic freedom, and a legal and social state, which guarantees the universally recognized human rights and freedoms. Therefore, it is the priority of the state to develop and improve the institutions designed to protect basic human rights and freedoms, especially in the implementation of criminal justice policy by the state. The liberal criminal justice policy carried out in the country raised the discussion on the purposes of punishment, in particular, the rehabilitation and resocialization of convicted individuals, and due to the topicality of the issue, the present essay will focus on the meaning and aims of rehabilitation and resocialization of the convicted persons and measures that are necessary for the efficiency of this process.
13th August 2019