The Association for the Prevention of Torture has recently launched a new database of international and regional standards, information, guidance and helpful tips to assist prison monitors as well as prison authorities and others engaged both in running and observing prisons. Here, APT’s Detention Advisor, Jean-Sébastien Blanc, explains why this resource is needed and what it offers […]
22nd April 2015
Many jurisdictions permit prison councils involving both prisoners and staff to have input into the way that prisons are run. In this penultimate blog in our year-long series, Kimmett Edgar, Head of Research at the UK charity, the Prison Reform Trust, says that self-advocacy roles for prisoners have a wide range of benefits. Service provision can be better informed […]
25th March 2015
PRI’s Policy Director, Andrea Huber, says that the overuse of imprisonment, prison overcrowding and the poor state of the world’s prisons are inextricably linked. Human rights bodies should start to address the chief drivers of prison overcrowding – in particular excessive reliance on pre-trial detention and custodial sentences for minor, non-violent offences. If they don’t, they will continue to document […]
23rd March 2015
On 25 February, PRI’s Executive Director, Alison Hannah, took part in a UN High Level General Assembly Thematic Debate on Integrating Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in the Post-2015 Development Agenda. The aim of the discussion was to tackle the challenges for sustainable development posed by transnational crime organised crime, illicit trafficking and corruption. Most speakers […]
4th March 2015
The number of older prisoners in prison populations is growing in many countries, in part due to ageing populations and often in part to punitive sentencing policies. However, older prisoners are more likely than their peers in the community to be disabled, to have multiple, costly chronic health conditions, and experience age-related cognitive impairment including […]
25th February 2015
In the ninth of our expert blog series, former UK prison governor and criminal justice expert, John Podmore, says that recognition that corruption is a widespread problem in prison systems – and subsequent action to tackle it – is long overdue. While we recognise that there is corruption in politics, business, sport and most other […]
25th January 2015
Like in many countries, women in conflict with the law in Albania are neglected as policies are drafted with only the male majority of offenders in mind, creating an urgent need for greater consideration of women’s needs in criminal justice and penal policy. Between 2010 and 2013 as part of her PhD thesis, Edlira Papavangjeli, Program […]
15th January 2015
For the second time in the past three months, PRI has been sent a book that gives a devastating insight into the dysfunctional workings of the American criminal justice system. In the first, Nancy Mullane, also a winner in our international journalism competition last year, interviews a number of prisoners and follows their attempts to […]
8th January 2015
In early December PRI attended the 6th International Conference of the International Juvenile Justice Observatory, Making deprivation of children’s liberty a last resort – towards evidence-based policies on alternatives. The Conference, held over 2 days on 3–4 December, provided a very timely opportunity on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of […]
22nd December 2014
Thirty years after the entry into force of the UN Convention against Torture (CAT), there is still a considerable implementation gap and torture continues to exist worldwide. One of the most significant developments over the last few years has been the establishment of National Preventive Mechanisms (NPMs). While these bodies carry out regular monitoring visits […]
9th December 2014