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Today the highest human rights body of the United Nations starts in session as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to hit countries around the globe and presents threats to the health and life of people in contact with criminal justice systems. First on the agenda is a presentation of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, […]
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Penal Reform International (PRI) regrets to announce that Florian Irminger has chosen to resign as Executive Director from the end of October 2020. Florian will be taking up the position of Secretary General of the Green Party in Switzerland. Florian Irminger commented: ‘I have a high esteem for PRI’s work, am grateful to have been […]
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A new briefing, Coronavirus: Preventing harm and human rights violations in criminal justice systems, highlights the impact of responses to COVID-19 on people in detention – amounting to 11 million people – who have been left behind, ignored or forgotten. Penal Reform International exposes a lack of systematic testing and data collection in prisons across the globe, which means unknown numbers of people in detention and staff are falling ill and dying […]
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Yesterday marked an important milestone for prison systems across Europe: the revised set of European Penitentiary 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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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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The outbreak of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 reminds us of the very essence of PRI’s existence. At this time, our mission is to ensure that no one is left behind and PRI is working to ensure that prison management, criminal justice authorities and governments around the world are informed, equipped and supported to slow and […]
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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, […]
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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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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 […]
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Penal Reform International and the Vance Center are co-organising a conference on Women in prison: evidence, advocacy and reform, in Bogota from 5–7 September 2018. The conference will bring together 45 women prisoners’ rights advocates from the Americas, Africa, Asia and Europe to share information about conditions of women’s imprisonment in their respective countries and regions and […]