Press release
Pioneering research on women serving community service and probation in Kenya
Nairobi, 3 October 2016 Today, Penal Reform International (PRI) and the Kenya Probation and Aftercare Service (PAS) publish a research report and short documentary, as partners in a pilot project on women serving community service and probation orders in Kenya. The research seeks to identify and understand the distinct challenges women face when completing these orders […]
News
Delegates from across Africa discuss factors for successful community service as ExTRA project ends
At the end of June, PRI’s new Africa Office welcomed Directors or Probation and Community Service from all over the East African region to Kampala for the PRI’s ExTRA Project End-term Evaluation meeting. The project has focussed on community service as an alternative to imprisonment for petty offences and is now complete after two years of […]
News
PRI opens new regional office in Kampala, Uganda
PRI is delighted to announce the opening of its new PRI Africa Office in January 2016. Based in Kampala, Uganda, the office will develop PRI’s expanding work in the Sub-Saharan Africa region. PRI has worked in partnership with criminal justice agencies and civil society in the sub-Saharan Africa region since the 1990s. Our work in […]
Press release
Historic update of international prison standards by the UN
Last Thursday the plenary of the UN General Assembly unanimously adopted the revised UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners – to be known as the ‘Nelson Mandela Rules’. ‘PRI is delighted at the successful outcome of this four-year review process. The updating of this key set of widely used standards, last Thursday, is […]
News
PRI and FHRI present Children of Imprisoned Parents in Uganda research at ACERWC Conference
Ronald is 13 years old. He has no contact at all with his parents both of whom are in prison. In the future he wishes to study very hard so that he is able to get his parents out of prison. Dalius is 10 years. His mother is in prison. He feels sad about his mother […]
News
PRI and FHRI deliver first East Africa training for women prison staff on the UN Bangkok Rules
‘How should we conduct body searches on women that keeps their dignity yet enables us to find any hidden disallowed objects? ‘How can we best support our women prisoners to earn an income when they are released? ‘Our superiors need to know about the Bangkok Rules! How can we get their support to put the […]
News
Prison monitors from 13 countries attend summer school on the UN Bangkok Rules
In late August, 16 members and staff of National Preventative Mechanisms (NPMs) from 13 countries gathered for a summer school in Bristol, UK, on preventing torture and ill-treatment through gender-sensitive monitoring. Organised by PRI and the University of Bristol, in partnership with the Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT), the four day summer school […]
News
PRI to work with the Kenya Probation Service to pilot gender-sensitive approach to community service
PRI is delighted to have received a grant from the Thailand Institute of Justice (TIJ) to work with the Kenya Probation Service to study and develop gender-sensitive community and probation orders in Kenya. The UN Bangkok Rules, universal international standards adopted for women offenders in 2010, call for prioritisation of ‘gender-sensitive non-custodial measures’, recognising the […]
News
Kenya’s probation officers become champions for the needs of women offenders
In April, 18 staff from the Kenyan Probation and After Care Service and two senior officials from the Prison Department took part in a three-day PRI training on women offenders and the UN Bangkok Rules in Nakuru, Kenya. The staff came from a number of districts in Kenya and the training was intended to provide […]
News
‘Mandela Rules’ on prisoner treatment adopted
PRI is delighted to report that the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ or Crime Commission) adopted revised Standard Minimum Rules (SMR) for the Treatment of Prisoners at its 24th session last week. The adoption of the revised Rules – to be known as the ‘the Mandela Rules’ – is a historic moment […]