Discussion paper: The Use and Practice of Imprisonment: Current Trends and Future Challenges
Last Friday (26 April 2013) at the 22nd Session of the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in Vienna, PRI presented a discussion paper The Use and Practice of Imprisonment: Current Trends and Future Challenges at a side-event.
Despite a night session of the Committee of the Whole on the Thursday evening, the side event attracted around 45 participants. The event was jointly hosted by the Permanent Representation of Namibia and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The audience heard from Mr Rob Allen, PRI’s associate, Mr Elvis Toolouta Shiweda from Namibia’s Permanent Representation, Mr Enrico Bisogno, UNODC’s Team Leader from the Crime Statistics Department, and Ms Rachel Ruelo from the Philippines Bureau of Corrections.
Delegates attending the event discussed the current trends in prison populations, the use of new technologies in the penal system, and challenges facing penal systems around the world, including overcrowding.
The Discussion Paper and interventions by delegates will serve as a basis for a full paper that PRI intends to publish for the Crime Congress in Doha, Qatar in 2015.