Oral Statement delivered by Professor Dirk Van Zyl Smit 28th session, United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice 20 May 2018, Vienna On behalf of Penal Reform International I want to draw the attention to a form of punishment most often used worldwide to deal with the most serious crimes. This is not […]
Over 30 years, we have had many successes, working in more than 90 countries. We are proud of our past achievements and look forward to the years ahead. We believe in what Nelson Mandela said: “No one really truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails.” We believe that […]
Alongside the Thailand Institute for Justice, PRI will launch the fifth edition of Global Prison Trends on Wednesday 21 May 2019, at the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. Global Prison Trends outlines key developments and trends in the use and management of imprisonment worldwide. In 2019, the 52-page report will also contain […]
Alongside the Permanent Mission of Austria to the United Nations in Vienna, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN Office on Drugs and Crime, and Open Society Justice Initiative, PRI will be hosting an event titled Human Rights in the Administration of Justice, at the upcoming United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and […]
In the current context of extreme instability and volatility in the Central African Republic where the United Nations local presence has even reported ‘chronical violence targeted at civilians’; the Central African Republic government has approved a strategy which aims to demilitarise the country’s penitentiary system. On 9 January 2019, Prime Minister Simplice Sarandji endorsed three policy […]
This week, Penal Reform International and the University of Nottingham organised an international civil society strategy forum on life imprisonment, which took place in London from 11–12 December 2018. The two-day forum brought together key civil society actors (alongside stakeholders from academic institutions) from around the world to discuss and strategise how to tackle the […]
Last week, PRI’s Central Asia office hosted a regional conference bringing together representatives from five countries to share experiences on effective prison management of violent extremism offenders. Data shows that the number of those convicted of violent extremist and terrorist crimes is growing, and there are concerns in some Central Asian countries that prisons have served as […]
Today, 10 October 2018, is the 16th World Day Against the Death Penalty. This year, the aim of the World Day is to raise awareness of the inhumane living conditions of people sentenced to death. Although people on death row are entitled to the same basic rights and treatment conditions as other categories of prisoners, as set […]
Penal Reform International, together with the Thailand Institute of Justice, is developing guidance on gender-specific rehabilitation and reintegration programmes for women prisoners, to assist with the implementation of the UN Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-Custodial Sanctions for Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules). As part of this, we are collating best practices that implement […]
The under-representation of women in justice system institutions and its impact on justice system outcomes were the focus of a Women’s Power Breakfast in Warsaw on 19 September 2018, during the OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting. The event was co-organised by Penal Reform International, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and […]