Event: Global Prison Trends at the 14th UN Crime Congress

PRI held a side event at the 14th UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, co-sponsored by the Thailand Institute of Justice (TIJ), to consider some of the key trends and challenges in prison systems worldwide, with insight from the upcoming Global Prison Trends 2021. In particular, the discussions explored: 

• The impact of COVID-19 on prisons globally and trends in responses and outcomes; 
• Trends in penitentiary policy and practice, including around health and mental health, the use of capital punishment and life imprisonment; 
• Prison populations and issues for people belonging to specific groups in prisons; 
• Challenges in prison management, including security and violence, the situation for prison staff and the role of new technologies in prison and the wider justice system. 

Programme

Moderated by Prarthana Rao, Thailand Institute of Justice (TIJ)

Global Prison Trends – before and beyond the pandemic

Tríona Lenihan, Policy and International Advocacy Manager, Penal Reform International  

A crisis response to COVID-19 in prisons – the human impact

Nika Kvaratskhelia, Head of the National Preventive Mechanism of Georgia  

Human rights of persons deprived of liberty in global pandemic 

Andrés Y. Pérez, Human Rights Officer, Rule of Law and Democracy Section, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights 

Challenging the weaponization of criminal justice against the poor and most marginalized – the need to decriminalise petty offences 

Janelle Mangwanda, Regional Campaign to Decriminalise Petty Offences in Africa / Researcher, Dullah Omar Institute, University of the Western Cape 

Alternatives to imprisonment, the opportunities and challenges 

Clement Okech, Assistant Director of the Kenya Probation and Aftercare Service  

Reforming criminal justice systems in conflict settings (video)

Oscar Ouedraogo, Project Manager in Central African Republic, Penal Reform International  

Criminal justice and technology: the solution? 

Dr Katerina Hadjimatheou, Human Rights, Big Data, and Technology project, University of Essex  

Q&A