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 […]
19th May 2015
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 […]
24th April 2015
Many jurisdictions permit prison councils involving both prisoners and staff to have input into the way that prisons are run. In this penultimate blog in our year-long series, Kimmett Edgar, Head of Research at the UK charity, the Prison Reform Trust, says that self-advocacy roles for prisoners have a wide range of benefits. Service provision can be better informed […]
25th March 2015
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 […]
23rd March 2015
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 […]
4th March 2015
The number of older prisoners in prison populations is growing in many countries, in part due to ageing populations and often in part to punitive sentencing policies. However, older prisoners are more likely than their peers in the community to be disabled, to have multiple, costly chronic health conditions, and experience age-related cognitive impairment including […]
25th February 2015
In the ninth of our expert blog series, former UK prison governor and criminal justice expert, John Podmore, says that recognition that corruption is a widespread problem in prison systems – and subsequent action to tackle it – is long overdue. While we recognise that there is corruption in politics, business, sport and most other […]
25th January 2015
Thirty years after the entry into force of the UN Convention against Torture (CAT), there is still a considerable implementation gap and torture continues to exist worldwide. One of the most significant developments over the last few years has been the establishment of National Preventive Mechanisms (NPMs). While these bodies carry out regular monitoring visits […]
9th December 2014
In 1989 the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment came into force, establishing the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT). The CPT was the first system with a mandate to conduct visits to places of detention on a regular […]
PRI at the Crime Congress 201525th November 2014
In 2009, the Red Cross started a programme in Ireland to train volunteer prisoners on community-based health and first aid. Following the course, the volunteers implemented a range of projects to improve health and conditions in prison – from hand-washing to improving take-up of HIV testing to reducing violence. PRI’s Executive Director was impressed by the results […]
9th October 2014