Blog

Monitoring isolation and solitary confinement in the UK: inadequate procedures and informal practices need to be addressed

In this guest blog, Louise Finer, Coordinator of the UK’s National Preventative Mechanism, explains the findings from the NPM’s review of ‘isolation’ and ‘solitary confinement’ in detention. The NPM’s monitoring uncovered widespread practices that met the UN Mandela Rules internationally agreed definition of solitary confinement. On 1 December 2015, the UK’s National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) […]

Louise Finer8th January 2016

Make 2016 the international year of prison reform

In this blog, originally published on the website, Justice and Prisons, Rob Allen argues that there are number of reasons why governments and donors should have prison reform in their sights this year, not least because prisons, particularly in conflict and post conflict situations, can be a source and driver of insecurity as the emergence of Daesh […]

Rob Allen6th January 2016

Preventing infectious diseases in prisons: a public health and human rights imperative

The spread of infectious diseases is a serious problem in prison systems worldwide, with prisoners often many times more likely to be living with Tuberculosis, HIV or hepatitis than a person in the broader community. Alongside the generally poor and unsanitary conditions prevalent in prisons, one major route to infection is unsafe injecting drug use. […]

Gen Sander23rd October 2015

In California’s experience, it isn’t bigger prisons that crime victims want

‘Tough on crime’ policies are often justified on the basis that putting people in prison for longer is what victims want and deserve. In 2013, Californians for Safety and Justice, which campaigns for more effective public safety policy − conducted a survey to find out whether this was what victims in California actually did want. The results turned the established narrative […]

Lenore Anderson25th August 2015

What does the adoption of the ‘Mandela Rules’ mean for prisons and prisoners in Uganda?

Doreen Namyalo Kyazze from the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative in Uganda joined the PRI team at the UN Crime Commission in May for the adoption of the revised Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Mandela Rules). Here she explains some of the challenges facing prisons and prisoners in Uganda – the […]

Doreen Namyalo Kyazze29th June 2015

Introduction to the ‘Mandela Rules’ with Andrea Huber

On 22 May 2015, at the UN Crime Commission in Vienna, states agreed on a new set of prison standards – a new and updated version of the well-known and well-used Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (SMR). Andrea Huber, PRI’s Policy Director, was involved in the revision process and was present in […]

Andrea Huber15th June 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

Failed drug policies in Latin America: the impact on prisons and human rights

Around the world, attempts at controlling the use and sale of drugs through criminal sanctions have resulted in extreme levels of incarceration for drug-related offences, serious overcrowding in prisons, deterioration of prison conditions, increased violence inside and outside prison, and depleted resources available for rehabilitation, education or treatment. In Latin America, for example, nearly a third of all detainees […]

Luciana Pol, CELS, Argentina24th April 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