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‘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 […]

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Summer school for NPMs: preventing torture through gender-sensitive monitoring

From 10-13 August 2015, PRI and the University of Bristol in association with the Association for the Prevention of Torture will be running a Summer School for members and staff of National Preventive Mechanisms on ‘Preventing torture and ill-treatment of female detainees through gender-sensitive monitoring’. The Summer School will take place in Bristol, UK (2 hours […]

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Training trainers from the Kenyan Probation Department

‘Female offenders require a multidimensional gender specific approach that addresses the problems that form the context for women’s criminal behaviour’, advocated Ms Josephta Mukobe, Principal Secretary for the Kenyan State Department of Coordination of National Government, in an opening address, read on her behalf by the Director of Administration in the State Department, at the […]

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Uganda has ended its opposition to a global moratorium on the use of the death penalty

Uganda has ended its opposition to a global moratorium on the use of the death penalty. At the UN General Assembly on 21 November 2014, Uganda abstained on the measure, changing after seven years of voting against. The country is one of ten where PRI is working to abolish the death penalty and implement humane alternative sanctions. […]

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PRI welcomes the winners of our international investigative journalism competition

Penal Reform International (PRI) is delighted to welcome to London the winners of its inaugural competition for the best journalism investigating the death penalty and life (or long-term) imprisonment this week. Following review by panels of judges, the three winners will travel to London in October to visit the offices of The Guardian newspaper and meet […]

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PRI trains UN peacekeepers on the Bangkok Rules in Rwanda

PRI’s Policy Director, Andrea Huber, recently returned from a pre-deployment training session in Rwanda with the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations. The two-week training was the first of its kind to invite only female trainees as part of an effort to increase the number of female corrections officers involved in peacekeeping. Also for the first […]

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PRI calls on Human Rights Council to address prison overcrowding as a human rights issue

PRI is calling on the Human Rights Council and its bodies today to address as a human rights issue the overuse of imprisonment and the deplorable overcrowded conditions in prisons that it causes. Read this news article in Arabic / العربية In the Panel Discussion on Persons Deprived of their Liberty during this 27th Regular Session […]

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First international guidance on addressing needs of children of incarcerated parents launched in South Africa

From 3–5 September 2014, Keeping Children Safe (KCS) held an international conference in Cape Town to promote the Child Safeguarding Standards. As part of the conference programme, PRI – represented by Alison Hannah, PRI’s Executive Director and Jenny Clarkin, PRI Programme Officer – co-organised the launch of the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the […]

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PRI to pilot a new model of achieving effective scale-up of community service in East Africa

PRI is pleased to be able to continue its work supporting community service and other alternatives to imprisonment in three countries of East Africa through a new grant from the UK Government (UKAid). The project – Excellence in Training on Rehabilitation in Africa or ‘EXTRA’ – will pilot a new model to increase the effectiveness of the delivery of […]