Blog

More prisons, further away: a closer look at the expanding global prison estate

This article was edited on 25 July 2022 to add the editor’s note marked *.  Global Prison Trends 2022 highlighted significant investment in new or expanding prison facilities in many countries, often as a result of rising prison populations and corresponding prison overcrowding, with new prison constructions increasing in scale as well as geographical remoteness. […]

Edith Riegler6th July 2022

A rare assessment of the penal system in North Korea

Due to extreme secrecy and opacity in official information, very little is known about the penal system in North Korea. As the Human Rights Council considers the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and the European Parliament condemns the human rights situation in […]

Hae Ju Kang20th April 2022

What can funders do to better support incarcerated women and girls?

As a minority in national prison populations, women are often at a disadvantage compared to men in prison, with few prisons meeting their basic needs or adequately preparing them for release or reintegration. Women have also faced increased hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic as a result of changes to prison regimes that fail to account […]

Isabella Cordua and Sabrina Mahtani1st March 2022

End-of-life care in prisons

The number of older people in prison has been rising in many countries. Their health and social care requirements are not always compatible with prison regimes and infrastructure. In this blog, Lynn Saunders, former governor of HMP Whatton in England, describes some of the challenges in providing health care to older persons in prison, including […]

Lynn Saunders21st February 2022

10 años despues, “Yo tengo algo que decir”: Las niñas, niños y adolescentes con referentes adultos privados de libertad alzan su voz

Read this blog in English Las niñas, niños y adolescentes (NNA) con un progenitor o un referente adulto privado de libertad[1]continúan siendo las víctimas olvidadas del encarcelamiento. Sus derechos y bienestar se ven afectados en cada una de las etapas del proceso penal de su familiar aunque a menudo esto no es tenido en cuenta […]

Lía Fernández10th February 2022

A Social Service of Great Importance: Recognising the role of prison staff in rehabilitation

PRI has recognised that prison staff – including prison, correctional and detention officers – are key actors in the successful rehabilitation of people in prison around the world. Positive relations between people in prison and prison officers are crucial in encouraging pro-social behaviour, fostering an environment of respect, and generally creating safer conditions for the […]

Abbey Bertelsen18th January 2022

Over-policing of Aboriginal children in Australia: A system that criminalises Aboriginal children

One of the themes of this year’s World Congress on Justice With Children is systemic racism and the disproportionate criminalisation of Indigenous children. The UN Global study on children deprived of liberty stated that young indigenous people are over-represented in many justice systems, a trend which has increased over recent years. In the sixth blog in our series for the World Congress on Justice with Children, Andreea Lachsz, Head of Policy, Communications and Strategy at the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, outlines the situation in Australia and how they are working to address such discrimination. 

Andreea Lachsz22nd November 2021

Unearthing the facts about children facing the most severe penalties in Pakistan

Children in many countries continue to be sentenced to the death penalty and life imprisonment, often under outdated colonial laws and in violation of their rights under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In the fifth blog of our series for the World Congress on Justice with Children, Sarmad Ali discusses research undertaken by Legal Awareness Watch (LAW) Pakistan to understand the situation of children in prison facing these most severe penalties.

Sarmad Ali11th November 2021

Abolishing life imprisonment for children: A battle that’s not won yet

Life imprisonment of children is on the decline. Since 2008, five countries have abolished life imprisonment as a criminal sentence for children entirely and in many countries where it remains, fewer children are serving these sentences. In the fourth blog of our series for the World Congress on Justice with Children, Leo Ratledge from Child Rights International Network (CRIN) looks at where this sentence still exists and the role that legal advocacy has played in the movement to abolish the practice.

Leo Ratledge8th November 2021