Multimedia
In this two-minute animation, we explain the revised UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules), what they include, and what they mean for prison management. Watch the animation in: Arabic Armenian: Правила Манделы -Краткое введение (Армянский) Georgian: მანდელას წესები – ანიმაციური მიმოხილვა Portuguese: As Regras de Nelson Mandela: uma introdução – with thanks […]
Languages: English
Multimedia
Restoring the justice and prison systems back to working order is an essential and often urgent task for post-conflict states. In this expert blog for PRI, Terry Hackett, Warden of Pacific Institution in British Columbia (BC), Canada, draws on his recent research into civil society action in justice and correctional reform in Rwanda after the […]
Languages: English
Multimedia
The spread of infectious diseases is a serious problem in prison systems worldwide, with prisoners often many times more likely to be living with Tuberculosis, HIV or hepatitis than a person in the community. Alongside the generally poor and unsanitary conditions prevalent in prisons, one major route to infection is unsafe injecting drug use. Yet […]
Languages: English
Report
In May, the National Preventive Mechanism of Kazakhstan and the Ombudsman’s Office launched their consolidated annual report for 2014. The NPM was established in law in July 2013 and started carrying out monitoring visits in Spring 2014. This report explains the development of the NPM and reports on conditions of detention in the institutions under […]
Languages: English, Russian
Submission
This submission responds to a call for information by the UN Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice for their report on safety and security. Within this broad area of research, the UN Working Group stated they intend to address ‘equality and non-discrimination in the enjoyment of the […]
Languages: English
Multimedia
Prisoners are put in solitary confinement – for days, and sometimes for months and years, in most countries. In the USA, the American Civil Liberties Union has estimated that some 80,000 prisoners are housed in some form of isolation. However, the dangers of solitary confinement are increasingly recognised. Not only to the mental health of the individual, […]
Languages: English
Annual Report
PRI’s Annual Report 2014 highlights achievements at both international and country level in our 25th anniversary year which ran from April 2014 to April 2015. The process of revising the text of the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners was completed in April 2014 at the fourth intergovernmental expert group meeting […]
Languages: English
Submission
This joint submission calls on Member States present at the 24th Session of the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (Crime Commission) to finalise the process of the SMR Review and adopt the revised Standard Minimum Rules according to the recommendations of the inter-governmental Expert Group, and transmit them for final adoption by […]
Languages: English
Submission
The enforcement of overly punitive laws for drug offences has not only proven ineffective in curbing the production, trafficking, and consumption of illicit substances, but had many negative consequences, including overloading criminal justice systems, overwhelming the courts, fuelling prison overcrowding and exacerbating health problems. Focusing already limited resources on low-level offenders and drug users has […]
Languages: English
Multimedia
In this last of our expert guest blogs for our anniversary year, Luciana Pol, Senior Fellow on Security and Human Rights at Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS) in Argentina welcomes initiatives in several Latin American countries to start to recalibrate the criminal justice response to drugs and welcomes the inclusion of human rights […]
Languages: English