Welcome to Penal Reform International's monthly e-newsletter, a round-up of PRI and other penal reform news from a variety of criminal justice and human rights resources around the world.
The views expressed in the news items below are not necessarily those of PRI.
PRI’s Annual Report 2016, which outlines the impact of our work and achievements over the past year, is now online.
Highlights of 2016 included:
Continued global promotion of the Nelson Mandela Rules (the revised Standard Minimum Rules for the treatment of prisoners), and publication of the Short Guide to the Nelson Mandela Rules, which is now available in eight languages.
Our work to promote the use of alternatives to detention continued across our regional offices, and a pilot project with partner Kenya Probation Service was implemented to develop a gender-sensitive approach to the delivery of community sanctions.
We continued to share our learning on managing violent extremism and radicalised prisoners, with our regional offices leading roundtable meetings and trainings in countries including Kazakhstan, Morocco and Algeria
300 staff in places of detention in Central Asia received training on international standards, laws and good practice as part of a three-year programme to end violence against children.
For the first time in Kazakhstan, a monitoring group has been established to carry out permanent and independent public monitoring of penitentiary institutions for children. The group, which sits under the Commissioner for the Rights of the Child in the Republic of Kazakhstan, was created with the support of PRI and UNICEF.
On 30 May 2017, PRI’s Central Asia office (PRI CA) hosted the National Forum on preventing the radicalisation of prisoners and countering violent extremism in prisons in Kazakhstan in Astana, Kazakhstan. The aim of the dialogue was to create a constructive platform to discuss methods of countering radicalisation in prisoners and preventing violent extremism. Read PRI CA’s full press release on the National Forum in English, Kazakh and Russian.
On 23 May 2017, PRI CA, along with the European Union and several national and international organisations, co-hosted a national roundtable, Access to justice for vulnerable groups in places of deprivation and limitation of liberty: special focus on women and children’s rights, in Astana, Kazakhstan. The roundtable, which was dedicated to International Children’s Day (1 June), sits within the framework of a project implemented by PRI CA and funded by the Delegation of the European Union to Kazakhstan. The project aims to support judicial reform in the country by empowering civil society organisations to improve access to justice for vulnerable groups.
Read PRI CA’s press release on the roundtable in Kazakhand Russian.
Prison populations have a disproportionately high rate of people suffering with mental health or behavioural problems. In a new report, Dr Marayca López and Laura Maiello-Reidy of CGL Companies, a pre-eminent criminal justice planning and design firm based in New York, explain how prison design can significantly improve the living conditions of mentally ill inmates. They share design principles that can help create correctional buildings that have a restorative, not detrimental, impact on inmates suffering from mental illness.
Photo credit: Women’s Prison in Kyrgyzstan, Eleonora Sharshenalieva, 2016
In this blog, Jessica Bullock, founder of SPEAK Vermont Prison Debate Initiative, discusses the relevant international human rights standards that are key to answering the question – when do prison conditions constitute ‘cruel or inhuman’ treatment or ‘torture'?
Read PRI’s 10-point Plan to Reduce Prison Overcrowding, which provides guidance to policymakers on how to address prison overcrowding and mitigate its harmful consequences.
On 26 June, the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, UN Secretary-General António Guterres noted that it is 'vital' to examine the effectiveness of the war-on-drugs approach and its consequences for human rights. He urged the international community to honour the 'unanimous commitments' to reduce the harm that drugs cause in a way that promotes equality and human rights, which were made at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on the World Drug Problem (UNGASS 2016).
Researchers from the US-based Pew Charitable Trusts have cast doubt on the theory that stiffer prison terms deter drug use and related crime, finding no significant relationship between states’ drug offender imprisonment rates and three measures of drug problems: rates of illicit use, overdose deaths, and arrests. Their findings are set out in a letter to the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis.
A group of UN experts have stated that the Government of Egypt must halt the executions of six men sentenced to death following trials that did not meet international standards of fairness. The men had been convicted on the basis of forced confessions that were later retracted.
The Guide will be useful for policymakers developing national prison management standards and guidelines, and for prison authorities and personnel putting them into practice on a day-to-day basis.
Israel's High Court orders improvements in detention conditions
Israel's High Court of Justice has issued two rulings ordering improvements in detention conditions. In the first judgment, the Court ruled that the State must give all prisoners a minimum of four square metres of cell space within 18 months. The Court found that the State was violating prisoners' 'basic rights to human dignity' by running facilities with cells that were too small. In the second judgment, in respect of a detention facility for asylum seekers, the Court ruled that in order to fulfil their rights to privacy and dignity, the State must reduce the number of detainees housed in each room from 10 to six.
The UK-based Prison Reform Trust has published its most recent 'Bromley Briefing' on prison facts and figures. The statistics show that England and Wales has the highest imprisonment rate in western Europe, with the prison population rising by 82 per cent in the last 30 years. The briefing was also discussed on BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour (episode available in UK).
Pennsylvania's highest court has held that juveniles should only rarely be sentenced to life without parole, telling prosecutors that such cases require proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is a rare example of someone who can never be rehabilitated.
USA: Progress made towards creating fairer bail systems
The US Supreme Court has upheld a ruling that the Houston bail system unfairly discriminates against the poor. The Supreme Court refused to halt a federal appeals court ruling, following which dozens of inmates were released from a Houston jail.
Bail reforms intended to ensure that poor defendants are not jailed due to an inability to pay won final passage in the Connecticut Senate. The changes to bail practices include barring judges from setting cash-only bails, and restricting judges from setting bail for misdemeanors in most circumstances.
The UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Agnes Callamard, has issued a report urging states to review laws, criminal procedures and judicial practices to ensure that they take full account of women’s backgrounds, and to repeal laws that result in the disproportionate detention of women. The Special Rapporteur also urges states to implement fully and expeditiously the UN Bangkok Rules and establish appropriate gender-specific conditions of detention.
A new study by the US Bureau of Justice Statistics shows a striking disparity between incarcerated men and women. Although women make up only seven per cent of the prison population, 66 per cent of women in prison reported having a history of a mental disorder, almost twice the percentage of men. One in five women in prison had recently experienced serious psychological distress, while one in seven men had.
The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (2016) showed a 42 per cent increase of imprisonment rates over the last 10 years for women, compared to a 24 per cent increase for men. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women make up around 34 per cent of women incarcerated, despite comprising only two per cent of the adult female population. This ABC Australia episode features a discussion by experts and former prisoners of why this is happening, and explores the unintended consequences for the women and their families, especially their children.
PRI are looking for a part-time fundraising research intern to join our team based in London. The successful candidate will assist the Fundraising Manager in the development and implementation of PRI’s global income generation and engagement strategy.
Taghreed Jaber, Regional Director for PRI MENA, and Mohammed Salem Al Kaabi, Chairman of EHRA’s Board of Directors
PRI’s Middle East and North Africa Office (PRI MENA) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Emirates Human Rights Association (EHRA). The MOU supports the efforts of the EHRA to raise capacity building of the organisation’s members to achieve its vision and goals of promoting the principles of human rights, particularly in the area of justice and the rule of law.
On 5 and 6 June, PRI’s Policy Director Andrea Huber attended the annual meeting of the Group of Friends of Corrections in Peace Operations (GoF), which was hosted by the Permanent Mission of Canada to the UN. A high-level event on day one explored the linkages between a robust prison security framework in host countries of United Nations peace operations and the broader peace and security agenda of the Security Council. The second day focused on the GoF’s priorities and upcoming activities. The event brought together approximately 40 representatives from Member States, United Nations partners, think tanks and non-governmental organisations.
