Archive

PRI statement to the OSCE reiterates importance of multi-layered monitoring of places of detention to end torture

This week, PRI delivered a statement to the OSCE’s annual human rights conference (the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting) in Warsaw on the monitoring of places of detention and the role of preventive monitoring. In particular, the statement stressed that a combination of preventive work by National Preventive Mechanisms (looking at more general risk factors) and reactive monitoring […]

Press release: Turning research into action to eliminate torture and ill-treatment of children in detention

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, 21 September 2012 —The Kyrgyz Parliament and Government are hosting an international conference today to reduce violence against children in conflict with the law with the support of The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and Penal Reform International (PRI). Globally, the vast majority of children are detained for non-violent crimes including running away […]

PRI publishes new research into violence against children in juvenile justice settings in eight countries

PRI has published new research examining law and policy in relation to violence against children in particular during arrest and in pre-trial detention in eight countries (Bangladesh, Georgia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Russian Federation, Tanzania and Uganda). There are estimated to be over one million children in detention around the world, the vast majority detained for non-violent offences, […]

PRI will give an oral statement on the question of the death penalty to the 21st Session of the Human Rights Council later today

The proceedings are being streamed live by the UN. Click here to watch. The statement will call on all states that retain the death penalty to ensure that it is not imposed on those who were under the age of 18 at the time of the alleged offence, or on those who have mental or intellectual disabilities. […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

Kazakhstan: Coalition of prison monitors launched

On 24th to 26th July 2012, a meeting of Kazakhstan human rights defenders who specialise in monitoring prisons was hosted by Penal Reform International (PRI) at the Kegok Centre, near Astana. There are currently 13 public monitoring commissions in Kazakhstan with each group made up of human rights defenders, journalists, lawyers and academics. The Penal […]