Blog

Testing the waters for UNGASS – are parliamentarians ready for a change in international drug policy?

PRI’s Policy Director reports on a Hearing of the Inter-Parliamentary Union on world drug policies, part of a preparations for the forthcoming UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) in April. When discussions about the international drug control regime were still relatively ‘tame’ in international fora, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) included in the agenda of its 128th Assembly […]

Andrea Huber15th February 2016

Nourish: thinking about food in prison

In many countries, prison food is insufficient in quantity and quality. Budgets are low (less than 0.5 USD per prisoner per day according to data recently gathered by PRI) and there have been cases where prisoners have died from starvation. In higher-income countries, food is more available but still may not be ‘of nutritional value adequate for health and strength, of wholesome quality and […]

Amy Smoyer25th January 2016

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

No prison is an island – the role of civil society in post-conflict penal reform

Restoring the justice and prison systems back to working order is an essential and often urgent task for post-conflict states. In this expert blog for PRI, Terry Hackett, Warden of Pacific Institution in British Columbia (BC), Canada, draws on his recent research into civil society action in justice and correctional reform in Rwanda after the […]

Terry Hackett25th November 2015

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

Opening the steel door: how Colorado is reforming solitary confinement

Isolation from the rest of the prison population, whether as a disciplinary measure or for the ‘protection’ of vulnerable individuals, is used in most countries to different degrees. That solitary confinement can have a terrible impact on prisoners’ mental health, is however, now increasingly acknowledged by many people. Many are also questioning the wisdom of […]

Rick Raemisch, Colorado Dept of Corrections24th July 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