To fill the gap between international norms and the relative lack of information on how to build a compliant prison in difficult circumstances, UNOPS recently developed a Technical Guidance for Prison Planning document that facilitates a human rights-based approach in the development of prison infrastructure. This blog post by Gordon Nuttall and Pedja Jurisic (UNOPS) […]
25th February 2016
PRI has a strong history of working on alternatives to imprisonment in East Africa and the latest manifestation of this comes in the form of the UKAid sponsored ExTRA Project – Excellence in Training on Rehabilitation in Africa. A mid-term evaluation has been completed of this pilot project across Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, which focuses […]
18th February 2016
PRI’s Policy Director reports on a Hearing of the Inter-Parliamentary Union on world drug policies, part of a preparations for the forthcoming UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) in April. When discussions about the international drug control regime were still relatively ‘tame’ in international fora, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) included in the agenda of its 128th Assembly […]
15th February 2016
If you want to know how many people are in prison in the Seychelles, your luck is in. Today sees the latest edition of the World Prison Population List compiled by Roy Walmsley. Roy started to produce the essential resource when he worked in the Home Office. The UK government decided to stop publishing it […]
3rd February 2016
On Monday this week, the US Supreme Court ruled in Montgomery v Louisiana that people currently serving life sentences for offences they committed as juveniles must either be considered for parole or re-sentenced. In 2012, the Court had held that a mandatory life sentence without parole (LWOP) was unconstitutional for those under the age of […]
3rd February 2016
In many countries, prison food is insufficient in quantity and quality. Budgets are low (less than 0.5 USD per prisoner per day according to data recently gathered by PRI) and there have been cases where prisoners have died from starvation. In higher-income countries, food is more available but still may not be ‘of nutritional value adequate for health and strength, of wholesome quality and […]
25th January 2016
In this guest blog, Louise Finer, Coordinator of the UK’s National Preventative Mechanism, explains the findings from the NPM’s review of ‘isolation’ and ‘solitary confinement’ in detention. The NPM’s monitoring uncovered widespread practices that met the UN Mandela Rules internationally agreed definition of solitary confinement. On 1 December 2015, the UK’s National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) […]
8th January 2016
In this blog, originally published on the website, Justice and Prisons, Rob Allen argues that there are number of reasons why governments and donors should have prison reform in their sights this year, not least because prisons, particularly in conflict and post conflict situations, can be a source and driver of insecurity as the emergence of Daesh […]
6th January 2016
Historically prison buildings have largely been designed for the majority male prisoner population. However, the growing understanding that women who offend are different from men − from their typical backgrounds and the nature of their offences, to their experience of abuse and their care-taking responsibilities is also leading architects and planners to consider how prison facilities might also be designed […]
9th December 2015
What happens to children in Uganda when their parents or caregivers are imprisoned? Who are they? How many are they? Where do they live? Are they still be able to attend school? Who cares for them in the absence of their parents? Does the criminal justice system take their existence into account when sentencing their […]
1st December 2015