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
In late August, PRI brought together members of local criminal justice agencies across Jinja, Mbale and Iganga, Uganda, in order to raise awareness and promote community service as an alternative to imprisoning people for petty crimes. Police, Prison and Probation Officers as well as Court Clerks took part in a day of discussion and learning […]
1st September 2015
‘Tough on crime’ policies are often justified on the basis that putting people in prison for longer is what victims want and deserve. In 2013, Californians for Safety and Justice, which campaigns for more effective public safety policy − conducted a survey to find out whether this was what victims in California actually did want. The results turned the established narrative […]
25th August 2015
Women have a number of difficulties when they come to face to face with the legal system in Sierra Leone. Their low levels of education and literacy make seemingly simple things − understanding a charge or signing a confession − extremely problematic. Women were also among the vulnerable groups that fared worst under the state of emergency measures brought in to […]
7th August 2015
Last week, Nikhil Roy, PRI’s Director of Programme Development, visited Mayuge District in rural Eastern Uganda, to meet various players in the district’s community service programme and to attend a meeting for local stakeholders. Mayuge is one district selected as part of a pilot project supported by PRI in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. Prisons in all three countries are severely overcrowded […]
5th August 2015
PRI’s Executive Director, Alison Hannah, and Omar Khan, project co-ordinator for our ExTRA project on alternatives to custody in East Africa, attended the Second World Congress on Community Corrections held in Los Angeles from 14-16 July. The conference was attended by 360 participants from 27 countries and focused on innovations in community corrections and the […]
24th July 2015
Isolation from the rest of the prison population, whether as a disciplinary measure or for the ‘protection’ of vulnerable individuals, is used in most countries to different degrees. That solitary confinement can have a terrible impact on prisoners’ mental health, is however, now increasingly acknowledged by many people. Many are also questioning the wisdom of […]
24th July 2015
Doreen Namyalo Kyazze from the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative in Uganda joined the PRI team at the UN Crime Commission in May for the adoption of the revised Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Mandela Rules). Here she explains some of the challenges facing prisons and prisoners in Uganda – the […]
29th June 2015