Restoring the justice and prison systems back to working order is an essential and often urgent task for post-conflict states. In this expert blog for PRI, Terry Hackett, Warden of Pacific Institution in British Columbia (BC), Canada, draws on his recent research into civil society action in justice and correctional reform in Rwanda after the […]
25th November 2015
On the 50th anniversary of the de facto abolition of the death penalty in the UK, PRI’s Oliver Robertson says that while the path to abolition has varied from country to country, the UK’s swift conversion of a moratorium to abolition in five years may have lessons for some states today. This week marks 50 years […]
12th November 2015
The spread of infectious diseases is a serious problem in prison systems worldwide, with prisoners often many times more likely to be living with Tuberculosis, HIV or hepatitis than a person in the broader community. Alongside the generally poor and unsanitary conditions prevalent in prisons, one major route to infection is unsafe injecting drug use. […]
23rd October 2015
On 7 October, the UN Office of Drugs and Crime held a high level launch of the Mandela Rules (to be adopted later this year) in the course of the 70th session of the UN General Assembly. PRI’s Executive Director participated on the panel and provided an overview of three areas – complaints, inspection and […]
21st October 2015
On 14 October, Alison Hannah, PRI’s Executive Director, gave a presentation at a discussion hosted by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office on the abolition of the death penalty and Sharia Law. The aim was to explore the role of Sharia in the death penalty and the criminal justice systems of Muslim countries in the […]
18th October 2015
بناءً على قناعات راسخه في وجداني، كنت وما زلت من المدافعين عن حق الإنسان في الحياة، وأن ينعم بالكرامة المتأصلة فيه، ولم أتوانى في يوم من الأيام عن المشاركة في الفعاليات التي تدعو إلى مناهضة عقوبة الإعدام، بل ولم أقبل كناشطة أن يبرر الحكم أو تنفيذ هذه العقوبة تحت أي ظرف من الظروف أو بأي […]
12th October 2015
In a recent report on over-incarceration and overcrowding, the UN Commissioner for Human Rights argued that that custodial sentences should be imposed as measures of last resort and applied proportionately to meet a pressing societal need. A recent visit to East Africa by Rob Allen illustrated that much more needs to be done if that […]
7th October 2015
Foreign national prisoners often suffer disproportionately in the criminal justice system. They may have to negotiate prison life whilst contending with a different culture, language and without the regular family contact or visitors other prisoners may enjoy. As the number of foreign nationals in prison is considerable in many countries, the issue of the transfer […]
25th September 2015
Pre-trial services, a non-custodial alternative to pre-trial detention whereby defendants are monitored in the community, were first introduced in Mexico in 2011. A Mexican non-governmental organisation − the Instituto de Justicia Procesal Penal (IJPP) − was instrumental in establishing the first pre-trial service in the country in the state of Morelos, and has supported their development in ten […]
23rd September 2015
PRI’s Executive Director, Alison Hannah, attended the Nigerian Bar Association annual conference last week in Abuja. She was interested to hear the President’s call for lawyers in this populous country to champion the rule of law and tackle corruption, and says that lawyers can also play their part in ensuring that the rule of law […]
11th September 2015