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PRI’s Programme Development Director takes part in a panel on indefinite prison sentences and human rights for Voice of Russia
PRI’s Programme Development Director, Nikhil Roy, took part in a panel discussion on indefinite prison sentences (IPPs) on Voice of Russia today. The discussion follows last week’s judgment by the European Court of Human Rights that imprisoning people indefinitely without providing timely access to rehabilitation programmes to progress their sentences is a breach of human […]
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PRI launches new resource on developing community service as an alternative to imprisonment
PRI has today published a new resource – Making Community Service Work: A Resource Pack from East Africa – which provides information and material about how community service has developed as an alternative to imprisonment in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Sentencing offenders to do unpaid work of public benefit has many advantages. It is cheaper and less harmful […]
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Opinion piece in New York Times highlights devastating impact of solitary confinement on mental health
In her article, The Living Death of Solitary Confinement, Lisa Guenther, an associate professor of philosophy at Vanderbilt University (Tennessee), argues it is profoundly harmful for both prisoners and society to isolate people in units where they are neither allowed nor obliged to create and sustain meaningful, supportive relationships with others. The article trails Professor Guenther’s forthcoming book Social […]
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Public Monitoring Commissions in Kazakhstan: Public Statement
(8 August 2012) A recent workshop of Public Monitoring Commissions in Kazakhstan facilitated by Penal Reform International (PRI) on 24-26 July has prompted an agitated debate in Kazakhstan about the role of these Commissions and the nature of an association coordinating their work. In the light of this discussion and criticism, which has also affected our organisation, […]
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Armenia: PRI’s concerns reflected by UN Human Rights Committee
The United Nations Human Rights Committee held its 105th session in July and has made concluding observations that pre-trial detention is used too frequently, detainees are not informed of their rights or given quick enough access to doctors, lawyers or judges, and that prisons are overcrowded and understaffed. Our submission to the Country Report Task Force […]
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PRI has drafted two new working documents to support and facilitate the implementation of the UN Bangkok Rules
Penal Reform International (PRI) has drafted two new working documents to support and facilitate the implementation of the UN Bangkok Rules. Until their adoption, standards had not properly reflected the specific needs of girls and women, with regard to both conditions of detention and alternatives to imprisonment. Since their adoption, a number of states have […]
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PRI launches two books on women in the criminal justice system at the House of Lords
On 2 July 2012, over 40 attendees representing parliament, NGOs, donors and partners gathered to celebrate the launch of two books by Dr Rani Dhavan Shankardass, Penal Reform International’s Honorary President and Secretary General of Penal Reform and Justice Association (PRAJA), India: Of Women ‘Inside’: Prison Voices from India and In Conflict and Custody: Therapeutic Counselling for […]
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PRI participates in death penalty experts meeting at Harvard Law School
On 25-26 June 2012, PRI participated in an expert consultation at Harvard Law School with the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Mr Christof Heyns and the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Mr Juan Méndez. Other participants representing academia, lawyers, and NGOs included […]
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PRI activities at the forthcoming Crime Commission
At the annual session of the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, Penal Reform International will promote the UN Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders, their value and the need for their implementation by states. Should you be interested in the Report and Recommendations of the […]
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PRI hosts Tenth General Assembly of the World Coalition against the Death Penalty in Jordan
Under the patronage of His Excellency the Minister of Justice for Jordan, Khalifa Khalid Al-Sulaiman, PRI and the World Coalition against the Death Penalty opened the tenth General Assembly of the World Coalition. The General Assembly focused on the efforts and realities in the fight against the death penalty at the international level and in […]