All states in the MENA region currently retain the death penalty in law – and some continue to carry out executions – but PRI’s Death Penalty Project Manager sees reason for optimism at a two-day conference held by PRI’s MENA office in Algiers. Spanning 8,000km from east to west, MENA (the Middle East and North Africa) is […]
6th January 2014
Every day about 20 news stories pop in my email inbox, giving the latest headlines from around the world on prison and penal issues. Over the past couple of days, these include: ‘Epidemic of self-mutilation’ in women’s prisons in England and Wales’ ‘Inmates need needle-exchange programs and better access to HIV treatment: study’ (Canada) ‘Anti-torture […]
18th December 2013
Today – Human Rights Day (10 December 2013) – is a chance for organisations around the world to draw attention to both the continuing violations of peoples’ rights and the positive steps being made in protecting and respecting them. So it is appropriate that today PRI is in Kolkata, India, conducting a training of trainers’ workshop […]
10th December 2013
Increasing female imprisonment rates has in many countries shone a spotlight on the conditions and policies affecting women in conflict with the law. Australia is no different. In this blog, Mary Stathopoulos from the Australian Centre for the Study of Sexual Assault looks at approaches to address women prisoners’ histories of sexual abuse. In Australia, […]
4th December 2013
On 24 October 2013 the General Prosecutor’s office in Kazakhstan presented a draft Criminal Code to parliamentarians. After the presentation and responses to questions of parliamentarians by the Working group on Criminal code at the Parliament (WG) led by the MP Nurlan Abdirov, it was decided that further discussion of the draft law would continue at subsequent […]
20th November 2013
While the focus of last week’s conference on Alternatives to Imprisonment was on sentencing practice, the third day included a preview of the UNODC’s new handbook: Early access to legal aid in criminal investigations and proceedings: a handbook and training curriculum for policy makers and practitioners. Most of the countries at the conference – eight […]
12th November 2013
A new publication published today by PRI and the Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT) addresses how detention monitoring bodies can help redress the balance between security and dignity in prisons. “Not only are prisons and human dignity compatible, they must be compatible.” Andrew Coyle, A Human Rights Approach to Prison Management. Dignity is […]
11th November 2013
‘Imprisonment is appropriate, fair and just for certain offenders; it is not for others, particularly first and non violent offenders involved in petty or victimless crimes.’ These are not the words of a prison reformer but of Tanzania’s Chief Justice, the Hon. Mohamed Chande Othman, who opened a PRI sponsored international conference in Dar es […]
7th November 2013
According to the World Prison Brief, Uganda’s prisons are currently operating at over 200% of their official capacity. Overcrowding in prisons is one of the most serious challenges facing prison systems across Africa and in many other countries. Its effects can be life-threatening – contributing to the spread of infectious disease, increasing violence and levels of […]
6th November 2013
‘Within detention facilities, there is usually a strict hierarchy, and those at the bottom of this hierarchy, such as (…) gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans-gender persons, suffer double or triple discrimination.’ This statement by the Special Rapporteur on Torture encapsulates the particular situation of vulnerability in which LGBTI detainees find themselves when deprived of their […]
30th October 2013