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
Report
Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have both carried out revision of their penal codes (Criminal Codes, Criminal Executive Codes and Criminal Procedural Codes) over the last few years (from 2013 to the present in Kyrgyzstan and since 2009 in Tajikistan). PRI has been heavily involved from early on in the process in both countries, working with the authorities […]
Languages: English
Multimedia
Sentencing trends … prison technology – opportunities and threats … architectural design and offender rehabilitation. A special podcast to accompany our new Global Prison Trends report. Guests include: Alison Hannah (PRI Executive Director) Bryan Stevenson (Director of the Equal Justice Initiative and PRI Board Member) Dr Marayca López (US corrections analyst and justice planner) Rob Allen (criminal […]
Languages: English
Report
This report is designed to describe key global trends in the use and practice of imprisonment and to identify some of the pressing challenges facing states that wish to organise their penitentiary system in accordance with international norms and standards. Topics include: Prison populations and rates of imprisonment Prison management Prison regimes New technologies Criminal justice, social policy and […]
Languages: English
Multimedia
Thirty years after the entry into force of the UN Convention against Torture, there is still a considerable implementation gap and torture continues to exist worldwide. One of the most significant developments over the last few years has been the establishment of National Preventive Mechanisms (NPMs) which have a mandate to carry out regular unannounced […]
Languages: English
Multimedia
In 1989 the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment came into force, establishing the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT). The CPT was the first system with a mandate to conduct visits to places of detention on a regular […]
Languages: English
Multimedia
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 […]
Languages: English
Submission
This written submission was made to the 53rd session (3-28 November 2014) of the UN Convention against Torture relating to its examination of Kazakhstan’s 3rd periodic report under Article 19 of the Convention. The submission includes PRI’s observations relating to Kazakhstan’s recently adopted new Criminal Code, which defines and penalises torture as a distinct offence, conditions of detention […]
Languages: English
Submission
PRI delivered this joint oral statement at the 27th regular session of the Human Rights Council on 10 September 2014 on behalf of American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS), the International Legal Foundation (ILF) and PRI. The statement relates to the Panel discussion on the protection of the human rights of […]
Languages: English