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PRI will take part in the 15th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, taking place in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, from 26 September to 1 October 2026. As well as participating in the plenaries and programme, PRI is co-organising ancillary (side) events, bringing together Member States, UN entities, civil society and […]
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The International Corrections and Prisons Association (ICPA) Annual Conference 2023 is taking place this week in Antwerp, Belgium, from 22-27 October 2023, hosted by the Belgian Prison Service. The theme of the conference is “Humane Corrections: What more can we do“, reflecting the need for a more humane approach to corrections and to identify new and […]
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As Secretariat of the Informal CSO Group on Health in Prison, Penal Reform International (PRI) is coordinating civil society input to inform an upcoming technical brief on violence and health in prison by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Please share any relevant research, initiatives, publications, or hyperlinks. Email your responses to tlenihan@penalreform.org […]
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On 7 March 2023, PRI hosted a multi-stakeholder regional roundtable in Brussels to discuss and address problems faced by Roma in European criminal justice systems, especially within the context of implementing non-custodial sanctions and measures. The roundtable discussions benefitted from the expertise and perspective of criminal justice practitioners from seven European countries as well as […]
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As part of ongoing work in Europe, PRI traveled to Coimbra, Portugal on 4 and 5 November to meet with criminal justice stakeholders and our partner the Faculty of Law of the University of Coimbra for discussions on ways to make non-custodial sanctions and measures in the country more readily available for all, supporting flexibility, responsivity and fairness in their use and implementation, also in times of crises such as the […]
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Yesterday marked an important milestone for prison systems across Europe: the revised set of European Prison Rules (EPR) were adopted by the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers. The Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT) and Penal Reform International (PRI) welcome this important revision of the rules (and their commentary). It is instrumental that […]
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George Floyd’s killing in the United States city of Minneapolis in Minnesota has shed light on systemic racism within law enforcement agencies across the US. Such discrimination is a global problem, as we have documented in Global Prison Trends 2020, minority groups are over-represented in many criminal justice systems, seeing higher rates of arrest, pre-trial […]
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An effective and human rights-based approach to law enforcement requires legitimacy, non-discrimination, and public scrutiny. Trust in law enforcement agencies must come from commitment to the law and international standards, respect for all people and tolerance to those who come into contact with law enforcement, and exemplary in behaviour of law enforcement agents. Police can […]
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Prisons and justice systems are facing unprecedented challenges brought by the COVID-19 global pandemic. At this launch event for PRI’s new report Global Prison Trends 2020, international leaders and experts will address chronic issues that have led to this human rights and public health crisis with people in prison being so vulnerable – and critically, […]
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This year PRI is celebrating 30 years of accomplishments in developing and promoting fair and effective criminal justice systems across the world. Today, we set our trajectory for the coming decade, launching our new strategy for 2020-2023. The decade we are entering will determine whether the world is able to sustain and promote human rights, […]