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Regional Congress on the Death Penalty in Jordan: A major first

Taghreed Jaber, PRI Regional Director for Middle East and North Africa; and Suzanne Jabbour, Executive Director of Restart Centre for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence and Torture, Chair of the United Nations Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture, and PRI Board Member. On 11 and 12 July 2023, for the first time in the Middle East, […]

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20th World Day Against the Death Penalty highlights links with torture and ill-treatment

Today (10 October 2022) marks the 20th World Day Against the Death Penalty. Every year on 10 October, the World Day seeks unify the global abolitionist movement and mobilise civil society, political leaders, lawyers, and the public to support the call for universal abolition of capital punishment. This year, the World Day is dedicated to […]

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World Day Against the Death Penalty

10 October 2021 marks the 19th World Day Against the Death Penalty. This year, the World Day is dedicated to women who risk being sentenced to death, who have received a death sentence, who have been executed, and to those who have had their death sentences commuted, have been exonerated or pardoned. Their stories are […]

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Life imprisonment in a constitutional democracy

On 4 June 2020, Professor Dirk van Zyl Smit gave the ‘Roger Hood’ Lecture at the University of Oxford. Titled ‘The People Strike Back? Life imprisonment and other ultimate penalties in a constitutional democracy’ the lecture looked into the fight of penal reformers to make ultimate penalties more humane. Penal reformers ‘sought, with some success, […]

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Webinar: Launch of Global Prison Trends 2020

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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Working with police, magistrates and lawyers to promote fairer criminal investigations and trials in Uganda

Penal Reform International (PRI) is taking important and effective steps towards preventing ill-treatment and promoting the application of fair and effective criminal investigations and trials of people detained in Uganda. At PRI’s pioneering police training course in November 2019 on investigative interviewing and international human rights standards it was revealed that only two of the participants […]

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Our ambitions for 2020-2023

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, […]

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Event: Trends and Efforts Addressing Life Imprisonment in the United States and Around the World

Event invitation: Tuesday, 15th of October 2019 Venue: Open Society Foundations, 224 W 57th St, New York, NY 10019 Refreshments at Noon, with the panel from 12:30-2pm Download the event flyer here. Penal Reform International’s Global Prison Trends 2019, published in collaboration with the Thailand Institute of Justice, found that prison populations continue to rise […]

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We are 30!

Over 30 years, we have had many successes, working in more than 90 countries. We are proud of our past achievements and look forward to the years ahead.      We believe in what Nelson Mandela said: “No one really truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails.” We believe that […]

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PRI to launch Global Prison Trends on 21 May 2019

Alongside the Thailand Institute for Justice, PRI will launch the fifth edition of Global Prison Trends on Wednesday 21 May 2019, at the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. Global Prison Trends outlines key developments and trends in the use and management of imprisonment worldwide. In 2019, the 52-page report will also contain […]