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 […]
1st March 2022
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 […]
21st February 2022
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 […]
10th February 2022
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 […]
18th January 2022
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.
22nd November 2021
Children in many countries continue to be sentenced to the death penalty and life imprisonment, often under outdated colonial laws and in violation of their rights under the Convention on the Rights of the Child.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.
11th November 2021
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.
8th November 2021
Children with a parent in prison are forgotten victims of imprisonment whose rights and welfare are affected at every stage of their parent’s detention – yet they often remain invisible in criminal justice systems. In the third blog of our series for the World Congress on Justice with Children, 10 years after the Committee on the Rights of the Child held a Day of General Discussion and issued recommendations on children of incarcerated parents, Lía Fernández discusses efforts to raise the voices of children and adolescents with a parent or relative in prison in Latin America and the Caribbean – and what they have to say.
4th November 2021
Despite international bodies calling for the abolition of corporal punishment of children, in many states it is still lawfully used as a disciplinary measure in penal institutions and as a sentence for crime. In the second blog of our series for the World Congress on Justice with Children, Sonia Vohito, Legal Policy Specialist at the End Violence Partnership, outlines recent progresses and remaining challenges in achieving prohibition of corporal punishment of children.
1st November 2021
Children in contact with the law face multi-dimensional violence, discrimination, rights violations, and structural barriers throughout their contact with justice systems. In the first blog of our series for the World Congress on Justice with Children, PRI’s Tríona Lenihan considers the key barriers to children’s equal access to justice and presents the upcoming Congress which focuses on non-discriminatory and inclusive child justice systems.
27th October 2021