PRI has launched its annual flagship publication, Global Prison Trends 2018. Here we publish the foreword to the report, written by the Rt Hon Helen Clark, a Member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, Former Prime Minister of New Zealand, and Former Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme. Every year, Global Prison Trends by […]
15th May 2018
In 2017 alone, at least 119 people were killed during prison riots in Brazil, while other prisoners have simply disappeared. Henrique Apolinario, a lawyer at Conectas Human Rights, discusses what needs to be done in order to avoid further tragedies and to address the underlying causes of the crisis. 2017 started with terrible news in Brazil. […]
28th March 2018
Educational programmes in prison are ‘generally considered to have an impact on recidivism, reintegration and, more specifically, employment outcomes upon release’ (Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Vernor Muñoz). Nina Champion, Head of Policy at Prisoners’ Education Trust, looks at the importance of prison education and the increase in and impact of prison university partnerships […]
9th January 2018
Heather McGill, a researcher currently working on Central Asia for Amnesty International, discusses her recent report on prisoner transportation in Russia, which was launched in October 2017. Prisoners are always at greater risk during transportation, but prison transportation in Russia is in a league of its own. The size of the country combined with the […]
28th November 2017
Detailed safeguards and specialised institutions have been developed to tackle the circumstances in which torture occurs and to establish independent public oversight of places of detention. However, torture and ill-treatment are still widespread. The Omega Research Foundation, a UK-based research organisation, looks at the importance of independent monitors to document and monitor the use of weapons and […]
18th October 2017
Lawyer Daniela Ancira explains why she founded La Cana, a social enterprise that is helping to improve the reintegration of female prisoners in the State of Mexico, by teaching skills that enable them to earn an income both in and after prison. The State of Mexico is one of 32 states that make up the […]
4th October 2017
On Nelson Mandela International Day – the second since the UN agreed the revised set of Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, known as the Nelson Mandela Rules – Peter Clarke, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, explains how HMI Prisons has incorporated the Rules into their latest edition of Expectations, which sets out the detailed criteria used to inspect […]
18th July 2017
Prison populations have a disproportionately high rate of people suffering with mental health or behavioural problems. In a new report, Dr Marayca López and Laura Maiello-Reidy of CGL Companies, LLC, a pre-eminent criminal justice planning and design firm based in New York, explain how prison design can significantly improve the living conditions of mentally ill prisoners. They […]
28th June 2017
Torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment are prohibited in numerous international human rights instruments, but when do conditions of incarceration – such as overcrowding – cross the boundary from acceptable into ‘cruel or inhuman’ or even ‘torture’? ‘All too frequently…the prison may be overcrowded, even to the point of […]
7th June 2017
In this expert blog, Gen Sander of Harm Reduction International states that the global state of harm reduction in prisons is inadequate, unreliable, and unlawful. She argues that the provision of good-quality and accessible harm reduction, both inside and outside of prisons, is a legally binding human rights obligation, not just a policy option. The […]
6th February 2017