Blog

Out of balance: disproportionality in sentencing

Courts have started to consider whole life sentences without the possibility of parole to be in breach of the prohibition on inhuman and degrading punishment. But what about ordinary prison sentences? In the fourth blog in our anniversary series, Dr Mary Rogan, Head of Law at Dublin Institute of Technology and Chair of the Irish Penal […]

Dr Mary Rogan25th August 2014

Go and suffer this: the enduring impact of death row and wrongful conviction

Oliver Robertson, PRI’s death penalty and alternatives project manager, was in Africa from late June to meet with our partners Foundation for Human Rights Initiative in Uganda and to attend a Continental Conference in Benin on death penalty abolition in Africa. The death penalty is often handed down in situations where trial procedures are certainly […]

Oliver Robertson24th July 2014

How to build for success: prison design and infrastructure as a tool for rehabilitation

In the third blog of our anniversary series, Marayca Lopez i Ferrer, Senior Corrections Analyst and Planner at US firm CGL/Ricci Greene Associates, explores how forward-thinking architects are moving away from classical models of prison architecture – high perimeter razor-wire topped fences, gloomy undersized concrete cells along narrow corridors – to experiment with innovative spatial concepts […]

Dr Marayca López24th July 2014

Амнистия: плюсы и минусы или что мы ходим получить в результате реформ?

Амнистия или прощение в уголовном законодательстве представляется в настоящее время дискуссионным институтом. Принимаемый на некие юбилеи и памятные государственные даты, она направлена на прощение осужденного с последующим освобождением его от уголовной ответственности, от наказания, или смягчение наказания и даже снятие судимости. Затрагивая сферу уголовно-правовых отношений, амнистию следует больше рассматривать как конституционный институт. Отметим, что последние […]

Leila Sydykova16th July 2014

Protecting girls from all forms of violence in the criminal justice system

PRI has been working with the Special Representative of the Secretary General on Violence against Children, Marta Santos Pais, to raise awareness and bring about changes in the treatment of girls in the criminal justice system. In this blog she explains how the new Model Strategies and Practical Measures for the Elimination of Violence against […]

Marta Santos Pais15th July 2014

Смертная казнь в Центральной Азии: изучение общественного мнения в Казахстане

На сегодняшний день вопрос смертной казни является актуальным в странах Центральной Азии. Так на сегодняшний день смертная казнь законодательно сохраняется в Таджикистане и Казахстане. В Кыргызстане смертная казнь отменена  в 2007 году. Несомненно, на всех этапах решения вопроса о смертной казни немаловажным является общественное мнение. Весной этого года офис PRI в Центральной Азии провел социологический […]

Dinara Dildabek10th July 2014

Kyrgyzstan: progress towards a more humane criminal justice system

Currently PRI Central Asia is implementing a project to humanise the criminal justice systems of Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan through establishing criminal legislative codes in line with international human rights standards. PRI along with local partners (Golos Svobody in Kyrgyz Republic and Human Rights Center in Tajikistan) organised expert meetings, workshops for local civil society […]

Dinara Dildabek2nd July 2014

Radicalisation and de-radicalisation in prison – what should we do with violent extremist offenders?

In the second blog in our anniversary series, Dr Shane Bryans, a former UK prison governor and criminal justice expert, who has worked on prison-based de-radicalisation programmes in a number of countries, examines how prison administrations can manage violent extremist offenders.  Countries on every continent are facing the challenge of managing Violent Extremist Offenders (VEOs) within their prison systems. Preventing them […]

Shane Bryans25th June 2014

Finding effective solutions to poor prison conditions

PRI’s Executive Director reports from a meeting organised by the Open Society Foundations to discuss how the US can support interventions to improve prison conditions in developing countries. It’s a few years now since PRI had to close its small office in the U.S. when funding ran out, and since then it’s been more difficult […]

Alison Hannah11th June 2014