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Kazakhstan prison Ombudsman visits Slovenian counterparts
This week, PRI facilitated a visit to the Slovenian Ombudsman by a delegation from the Ombudsman’s office in Kazakhstan, including the Askar Shakirov, Ombudsman of Kazakhstan and Rustam Kypshakbayev, a specialist from the Ombudsman office. This visit was undertaken as part of a new 10-month PRI Central Asia project funded by the Organisation for Security and […]
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PRI discusses priorities for prison reform at regional and national fora in India
Over the last week PRI and the Penal Reform and Justice Association (PRAJA) have been running a series of training of trainer workshops high-level seminars for prison officials highlighting the need for professionalisation of the prison service and wider penal and criminal justice reform in India. On the 22nd February, PRI will hold a high-level national seminar […]
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Seminar discusses how to increase the use of probation in Bangladesh
On Friday 20 December, PRI and its partner organisation, the Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST) held a joint seminar on the use of probation as an alternative to imprisonment in Bangladesh. While the legislative framework in Bangladesh allows for offenders charged with a wide range of minor offences to be placed on probation, […]
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PRI Board Member Dirk van Zyl Smit to lead new global study on life sentences
PRI is delighted to hear that its Board Member Professor Dirk van Zyl Smit will be leading a new global study on life sentences. Professor van Zyl Smit is Professor of Comparative and International Penal Law in the School of Law at the University of Nottingham, which has been awarded a £222,000 grant for the project […]
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Human rights and prison management the focus of prison service training in Kolkata last week
On 9-12 December 2013, PRI and the Penal Reform and Justice Association (PRAJA) ran a training of trainers workshop (ToT) on human rights and prison management for Indian Prison Officials. Twenty prison managers from India’s eastern states – Jharkhand, Mizoram and West Bengal – took part in the four-day course on human rights and prison management, which […]
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PRI and the Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST) to hold seminar on probation on 20 December
This Saturday, PRI and its local partner BLAST, will be holding a national seminar on probation as an alternative to imprisonment. While the legislative framework in Bangladesh allows for offenders charged with a wide range of minor offences to be placed on probation, it is rarely used, and overreliance on prison sentences has contributed to severe […]
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New resource for detention monitoring bodies launched
On Friday, PRI and its partner the Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT) launched the a new joint publication – the Detention Monitoring Tool – at the Palais Wilson, Headquarters of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva. Monitoring bodies are most effective when they focus on a preventive approach, ie […]
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Representatives from eight African countries discuss the development of community service
On 6-8 November, PRI co-hosted an Africa Alternatives to Imprisonment Conference in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in partnership with the Government Probation Departments in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and our local NGO partners in the region. Twenty senior officials from Government Probation and Community Service departments in eight African countries (Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, South […]
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PRI launches new justice for children training manual
PRI is happy to announce the launch of its new training resource: Protecting children’s rights in criminal justice systems: a training manual and reference point for professionals and policymakers. Children in conflict or contact with criminal justice or welfare agencies either as children in need of protection, children at risk, on arrest, during trial, in […]
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International and regional progress for justice for children
The start of November has seen two important steps forward to help protect the rights of children in conflict or in contact with the criminal justice system. Firstly, we are very pleased to announce the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC) has adopted the first ever General Comment […]