Archive

Podcast: Prison systems need to acknowledge widespread corruption

Prisons are precisely the sort of environment where you might think that corruption would easily develop and prosper, which is why it is perhaps surprising that relatively little has been done so far to tackle it. In the ninth of our expert blog series, former UK prison governor and criminal justice expert, John Podmore, says […]

Podcast: How can criminal justice systems from police to probation address the medical and social care needs of elderly prisoners?

The number of older prisoners in prison populations is growing in many countries, in part due to ageing populations and often in part to punitive sentencing policies. However, older prisoners are more likely than their peers in the community to be disabled, to have multiple, costly chronic health conditions, and experience age-related cognitive impairments including […]

Podcast: No escape from violence: childhood abuse, offending, and women in prison

Although very few women commit violent crimes, evidence shows that a large number of women in prison have experienced physical and sexual violence themselves, as a child, an adult and often both. In 2012, Dr Lillian Artz, Director of the Gender Health and Justice Research Unit at the University of Cape Town, conducted a small […]

Podcast: Out of balance – disproportionality in sentencing

Courts have started to consider whole life sentences without the possibility of parole to be in breach of the prohibition on inhuman and degrading punishment. But what about ordinary prison sentences? Dr Mary Rogan, Head of Law at Dublin Institute of Technology and Chair of the Irish Penal Reform Trust, explores some significant recent court […]

Podcast: Building for success: prison design and infrastructure as a tool for rehabilitation

Over the last two decades, there has been increasing recognition that prison architecture can be an important catalyst for rehabilitation. Forward-thinking architects are reassessing classical models of prison design and experimenting with innovative spatial concepts embedded with theories from sociology, psychology, and even ecology. Dr Marayca López, Senior Corrections Analyst and Planner at US firm CGL/Ricci […]