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 than a short prison term, and offers opportunities for offenders to make amends and learn skills that might help them earn a living when they are released.

Community service has developed in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania over the past ten to 15 years. PRI has played a role in this development and recently published an assessment of trends in its use: Alternatives to Imprisonment in East Africa: Trends and Challenges.

This new pack includes extracts from legislation, policy documents and research reports from the region, together with examples of practical resources, which will be useful to organisations and individuals considering developing community service programmes in other low-income countries. It draws also on speeches and presentations made at a series of training events for magistrates and judges supported by PRI and held in the three countries in the first half of 2012.

For more information, please email publications@penalreform.org.