Blog

Using popular culture to address legal rights education in Sierra Leone

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 […]

Simitie Lavaly7th August 2015

Bringing the standards up to standard

The new and revised text of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (SMR) drafted by the intergovernmental expert group (IEG) will be submitted for consideration at the 24th session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (the UN Crime Commission) in Vienna this week. Professor Sir Nigel Rodley, Chair of the Human Rights Centre at […]

Professor Nigel Rodley19th May 2015

Human rights bodies need to look at the overuse of imprisonment

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 […]

Andrea Huber23rd March 2015

Fair and effective criminal justice systems enable and underpin sustainable development

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 […]

Alison Hannah4th March 2015

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

When will the tide turn in prison politics? Global prison trends

PRI’s Policy Director, Andrea Huber, looks at the some of the major trends – national, international, the good, the bad and the ugly – in criminal justice and penal policy over the last few years. This blog was first published by the Human Rights Centre at the University of Essex. If there is a criminal […]

Andrea Huber11th June 2014

Crime and punishment with Anthony Doob

Professor Anthony Doob is one of the three-most cited scholars in Canada and one of the top 25 most-cited scholars worldwide. He is renowned for his insights into Canada’s youth justice system, sentencing and imprisonment and for his influence on policy. He will be giving a lecture at the University of Toronto on 6 February […]

PRI Admin5th February 2014

An end of year message from Alison Hannah, PRI’s Executive Director

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 […]

Alison Hannah18th December 2013