Blog

How can criminal justice systems from police to probation address the medical and social care needs of elderly prisoners?

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 […]

Cyrus Ahalt and Brie Williams25th February 2015

Prison systems need to acknowledge widespread corruption

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 […]

John Podmore25th January 2015

Turning recommendations into reality: improving the impact of detention monitoring bodies

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 […]

Moritz Birk, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute9th December 2014

25 years preventive monitoring of places of detention – has the CPT achieved its goal in Europe?

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 2015Julia Kozma, European Committee for the Prevention of Torture25th November 2014

How peer educators are improving health and conditions in Irish prisons

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 […]

Alison Hannah9th October 2014

Old age behind bars: how can prisons adapt to the needs of increasingly elderly populations?

In many countries around the world, the number of older people in prison is growing fast. In the fifth expert blog in our anniversary series, Bridget Sleap, Senior Rights Policy Adviser at HelpAge International, outlines some of the challenges that older prisoners face in prisons, which – whether in terms of their lay-out, regime, healthcare […]

Bridget Sleap, HelpAge International25th September 2014

How to build for success: prison design and infrastructure as a tool for rehabilitation

In the third blog of our anniversary series, Marayca Lopez i Ferrer, Senior Corrections Analyst and Planner at US firm CGL/Ricci Greene Associates, explores how forward-thinking architects are moving away from classical models of prison architecture – high perimeter razor-wire topped fences, gloomy undersized concrete cells along narrow corridors – to experiment with innovative spatial concepts […]

Dr Marayca López24th July 2014

Radicalisation and de-radicalisation in prison – what should we do with violent extremist offenders?

In the second blog in our anniversary series, Dr Shane Bryans, a former UK prison governor and criminal justice expert, who has worked on prison-based de-radicalisation programmes in a number of countries, examines how prison administrations can manage violent extremist offenders.  Countries on every continent are facing the challenge of managing Violent Extremist Offenders (VEOs) within their prison systems. Preventing them […]

Shane Bryans25th June 2014

Finding effective solutions to poor prison conditions

PRI’s Executive Director reports from a meeting organised by the Open Society Foundations to discuss how the US can support interventions to improve prison conditions in developing countries. It’s a few years now since PRI had to close its small office in the U.S. when funding ran out, and since then it’s been more difficult […]

Alison Hannah11th June 2014

When will the tide turn in prison politics? Global prison trends

PRI’s Policy Director, Andrea Huber, looks at the some of the major trends – national, international, the good, the bad and the ugly – in criminal justice and penal policy over the last few years. This blog was first published by the Human Rights Centre at the University of Essex. If there is a criminal […]

Andrea Huber11th June 2014