You may be lucky enough to have a lawyer represent you in court, but in many countries, you may struggle to hear what they say or to communicate with them. Over the last 20 years, docks, where the accused is located during trial, have become more ‘secure’, with some enclosed in glass or even behind wire […]
15th December 2016
It is thought that roughly 6% of the UK’s female prison population are pregnant at any one time. Many women learn of their pregnancy on reception to prison. The population is slight but there is limited research globally looking at women’s experiences of pregnancy, birth and becoming a mother as a prisoner. My interest in […]
7th December 2016
In recent decades, there has been a noticeable trend towards larger prisons of 1,000 prisoners plus. In the USA, the trend has been particularly prevalent – with around 3,500 prisoners per prison in California for example, but other countries have followed a similar path. In this expert blog for PRI, David Skarbek, Senior Lecturer in […]
24th November 2016
In 2014, PRI embarked on an innovative two-year pilot project in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania to improve access to justice by targeting the development of community service systems as an alternative to the overuse of imprisonment, funded by UKAID. Omar Phoenix Khan, who led on the project, shares his reflections now the final evaluation is […]
23rd November 2016
In 2003, the U.S. passed a law called the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), which for the first time mandated the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) – an arm of the Department of Justice – to conduct anonymous surveys of prisoners about sexual abuse. These surveys have confirmed what reform advocates had long known – that abuse […]
9th November 2016
Last month, the US Department of Justice announced that it would phase out, with a view to ending, its use of private prisons. In this expert blog, David Fathi, Director of the American Civil Liberties Union National Prison Project and a PRI Board Member, gives his predictions for the future involvement of private companies in US […]
26th September 2016
The use of restorative justice with victims of domestic violence is much debated. People point to the dangers of re-victimising the victim. Yet often the victims of domestic violence have few choices – prosecuting the perpetrator or simply putting up with the abuse. In this month’s guest blog for PRI, Dr Marian Liebmann, an international […]
25th August 2016
Following the adoption of the revised UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners – the Nelson Mandela Rules in December, consultations are being held around the world to raise awareness and to seek the views of national policy-makers and prison authorities on implementation. PRI has hosted consultations in Uganda and in India. Last week, it […]
17th August 2016
In April 2016, the National Penitentiary Institute of Peru (INPE) approved a resolution to adopt and implement a new Protocol for the treatment of women prisoners based on the UN Bangkok Rules, one of the first countries to have done so. Maria Eva Dorigo, an independent researcher who worked with the INPE on the Protocol, explains its significance. […]
5th August 2016
Filming live court cases might make justice come to life, but do television cameras in a court room make our justice systems more transparent or improve public understanding of legal proceedings? Dr Ruth Herz, German judge and now visiting professor at Birkbeck School of Law, University of London, took on the role of a ‘TV judge’ […]
27th July 2016