News

News

Advisory Council established with distinguished experts appointed to support PRI’s work

Penal Reform International (PRI) has announced the establishment of an Advisory Council and is honoured that eight distinguished experts have been elected as the first members. The Council will strengthen the organisation’s impact and networks to achieve PRI’s ambitions for 2020-2023. Hon’ble Justice Muhammad Imman Ali, a Judge of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh and […]

News

Florian Irminger resigns from PRI as Executive Director

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 […]

News

People in detention are forgotten or ignored in COVID-19 responses, says new PRI briefing

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 […]

News

Revised European Prison Rules provide greater human rights protection for people detained across the continent

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 […]

News

UN Human Rights Council takes action to tackle racism and police brutality

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 […]

News

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, […]

News

We want to prevent COVID-19 ‘rampaging through places of detention’

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 […]

News

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, […]

News

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 […]

News

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 […]