Security, prisoner welfare and successful rehabilitation depend to a large degree on well trained prison staff. However, in many countries, the job is low status, badly paid, and recruits receive little training. Prison staffing is the subject of a special feature in PRI’s new Global Prison Trends report. Rob Allen sets out the main points for consideration […]
26th May 2016
Rob Allen highlights some of the findings from the 2016 edition of PRI’s Global Prison Trends. With prison reform the centrepiece of the UK government’s legislative programme over the next year, a timely new report from Penal Reform International (PRI) provides an international context in which to consider the plans for England and Wales. Global Prison […]
24th May 2016
Pavel Bém is former Mayor of Prague and a member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, Czech Republic. Here he gives his assessment of April’s UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on the world drug problem. The United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on “the world drug problem” was an important moment for the international […]
18th May 2016
Harm Reduction International has published a new tool for use by prison monitoring mechanisms (national, regional and international) to monitor the management of communicable diseases and harm reduction in prisons and prevent human rights violations in this context. Gen Sander, Human Rights Analyst at Harm Reduction International, introduces the tool here. Last October, I wrote […]
11th May 2016
The UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs (UNGASS) took place New York on 19-21 April. Javier Sagredo is Regional Democratic Governance and Citizen Security Advisor for Latin America and the Caribbean for the UN Development Programme (UNDP). In this expert blog for PRI, he examines whether the outcomes of this UNGASS meeting, as well […]
4th May 2016
On 10 March 2016, PRI’s new Africa Office held a round table discussion in Kampala, Uganda on the implementation of the Revised UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules). Omar Phoenix Khan, Project Coordinator EXTRA (Excellence in Training on Rehabilitation in Africa) Project Coordinator attended the discussions, along with PRI’s Executive Director, Alison Hannah and […]
11th April 2016
The 59th Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), along with its UNGASS Preparatory Session took place from 14th to 22nd March 2016 in Vienna. This year’s meeting included a preparatory session for the forthcoming UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on the world drug problem and agreed an ‘outcome document’ which sets out what will […]
31st March 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
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