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.
The four-day programme equipped participants with the necessary technical knowledge on key provisions of the Mandela Rules and how they can apply them in monitoring detention facilities. Read more in our news update and see more photos here.
The number of trial waiver systems worldwide has increased by nearly 300 per cent since 1990. In a new PRI expert blog, Jago Russell, Chief Executive of Fair Trials, looks at how this emerging issue can both improve but also undermine human rights protections.
At this year’s HDIM, PRI will be co-hosting two side-events, with a focus on the Mandela Rules, torture prevention and addressing violent extremism in prison.
PRI workshop on overcrowding for the UN Committee against Torture
On 7–8 August 2017, PRI ran a thematic workshop on overcrowding for the UN Committee against Torture. The workshop gathered some 30 participants and aimed to strengthen the Committee’s work on preventing and addressing violations of the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment caused directly or indirectly by prison overcrowding.
PRI’s South Caucasus office conducted training in Armenia for members of Armenian and Georgian National Preventative Mechanisms (NPMs) on the monitoring of psychiatric institutions. Independent police and prison monitoring boards operating in Armenia also attended. The training aimed to enhance the knowledge and skills of those who undertake monitoring in psychiatric institutions.
Antigua and Barbuda: The Committee expressed concerns over extreme overcrowding at the State's sole prison facility. The prison population has nearly doubled since 2000.
Ireland: Remand and sentenced prisoners continue to be held together in some facilities. In-cell sanitation and systematic deficiencies in prison health care services continue to cause concern.
Panama: Deficient medical services and lack of personal hygiene prevail. Prison authorities fail to have regard to the special needs of the disabled and women (concluding observations available only in Spanish).
Paraguay: The prison population has increased drastically since 2011, causing overcrowding levels of 159 per cent, which have led to a lack of beds and created degrading conditions (concluding observations available only in Spanish).
PRI’s Middle East and North Africa office (MENA), in partnership with the National Council for Human Rights, organised a training workshop for police in Bejaia, Algeria, on the rights of accused persons in the criminal justice system. The workshop aimed to increase the participants’ knowledge of international standards and good practice.
PRI has published a new brochure, Developing effective probation, providing information about PRI’s practical, evidence-based work on delivering probation systems.
Doreen N Kyazze, PRI's Regional Director in Sub-Saharan Africa, has called on the Ugandan government to take gender into consideration in detention facilities to ensure that the specific needs of women prisoners are met. Her comments came after a two-day training course for prison administrators on human rights and sensitisation on the UN Bangkok Rules, which washeld in Kampala and organised by the Uganda Prisons Service.
Since 2015, six model prisons across Thailand have adopted the UN Bangkok Rules. The Department of Corrections and the Thailand Institute of Justice have been working together to implement the Rules at both mixed and all-female correctional facilities, with one of the aims being to reduce the number of women prisoners.
We are looking for a part-time Research and Communications Intern to join our team based in London. This is an excellent opportunity for either a student or graduate seeking a career in human rights to gain solid experience and develop their skills. See more and how to apply on our website.
The Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN) has published a manual on Prison and probation interventionsin the context of preventing radicalisation to terrorism and violent extremism.
