Penal Reform International (PRI)

This guidance on the revised United Nations Nelson Mandela Rules, including relating to prison health, is ‎based on the deliberations of a meeting of experts – known informally as the ‘Essex expert group’ – organized by Penal Reform International and the Human Rights Centre at the University of Essex in Colchester, United Kingdom, on 7-8 April 2016.

This training resource has been designed to support stakeholders to put the United Nations Bangkok Rules on women offenders and prisoners into practice. It draws on global good practice and research findings to provide practical guidance, using exercises and case studies. There is also an online version of the course.

In this expert blog, Gen Sander of Harm Reduction International writes that the global state of harm reduction in prisons is inadequate, unreliable, and unlawful. She argues that the provision of good-quality and accessible harm reduction, both inside and outside of prisons, is a legally binding human rights obligation, not just a policy option.

This document provides a summary of discussions from a consultation convened by Penal Reform International and the Thailand Institute of Justice with prison personnel from 10 countries and other international organizations to discuss the revised areas of the Nelson Mandela Rules and identify both current good practices and challenges in their implementation.

According to Laura Abbott’s research, stress, hunger and exhaustion are some of the experiences of pregnant women in prison.

This blog post discusses a panel held by Penal Reform International (PRI) at the May 2016 Crime Commission on how to address the HIV epidemic in prisons, and arguing that the Nelson Mandela Rules and the Bangkok Rules for women offenders offer valuable guidance on this issue.

Penal Reform International (PRI) guest blog post introduces a new tool for use by prison monitoring mechanisms to monitor the management of communicable diseases and harm reduction in prisons and prevent human rights violations in this context.

This short guide summarizes the 122 Rules of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, which were revised by the United Nations in 2015. It includes a section detailing the rules on mental and physical health.

Penal Reform International (PRI) and the Friends World Committee for Consultation (Quakers) submitted this joint statement at the plenary panel at the 31st regular session of the Human Rights Council on addressing human rights issues in the context of efforts to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic by 2030.The statement highlights challenges around HIV/AIDS in prison settings and asked the panel to address the following questions: 1)What steps have you taken to ensure that prevention, treatment and care in prison settings are incorporated into your efforts to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic? 2) What steps should States take to ensure this population is not excluded from their efforts?

This document provides 10 steps to guide countries interested in moving away from solely punitive responses to drugs and in developing health and human rights-based approaches. The guide recommends: decriminalization with a view to the health benefits of this; greater partnership between law enforcement agencies and health authorities; the provision of health-focused services in prison; and continuity of treatment in cases of the above.

This research report is based on a survey of women in prison in Uganda. It provides an overview of the characteristics of and general trends around women prisoners and demonstrates the need for gender-specific policies that meet their specific needs. It recommends the strengthening of provisions of health-care services to women prisoners.The report provides the following statistics on the following: health issues as a result of imprisonment; psychological or psychiatric consequences of imprisonment; drug and alcohol dependency; and how many prisoners would like health-care provisions as an aspect of rehabilitation/reintegration programmes.

This submission focuses on the human rights impact of current drug policies in the criminal justice system, for input into a report of the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights to the Human Rights Council in September 2015.

This report describes key global trends in the use and practice of imprisonment. It describes global practices around and makes recommendations on the following: communicable diseases in prisons and the link with poor detention conditions; food; heath of prison staff; and drug crimes, the availability of drug dependency and harm reduction programmes.

This paper examines the specific challenges faced by girls in contact with the criminal justice system and makes recommendations for strengthening the protection of their rights.

This research series from six countries in three regions seeks to improve the evidence-base on the characteristics of women offenders. Through surveys, PRI gathered information about women prisoners including: age, number of children, educational level and economic status, drug or alcohol dependencies, previous victimization, type of offence and reasons leading to it, access to legal representation during the criminal procedure and crucially the consequences of their imprisonment and what would help to build a new life upon release.

This research report is based on female prison populations in Jordan and Tunisia, and seeks to illustrate the need for gender-specific policies that respond to the needs of women in prison, and to enable an identification of the key areas to be addressed as a matter of priority.

This research report is based on female prison populations in Armenia and Georgia, and seeks to illustrate the need for gender-specific policies that respond to the needs of women in prison, and to enable an identification of the key areas to be addressed as a matter of priority.

The document focuses on ways that law and policy-makers and criminal justice practitioners can respond effectively and positively to children in contact and in conflict with the law.

This guidance document can be used as a reference document and as a resource for use in reviewing legislation, developing gender-sensitive policies, and in training criminal justice actors and other relevant stakeholders. The index of implementation accompanies the guidance document by seeking to assist key actors and others to assess the extent to which the Bangkok Rules are reflected in their criminal justice systems and to help identify gaps in implementation.

Based on international and regional standards, this manual provides a practical approach to addressing issues that arise for children in criminal justice systems. It is illustrated with examples from other countries, includes challenging and thought-provoking questions and has case studies at the end of each topic.

This tool was developed by PRI and the Association for the Prevention of Torture to provide practical guidance to help monitoring bodies conduct effective visits to places of detention. The tool contains four thematic papers, which analyze broader themes that will benefit from a comprehensive monitoring approach, and five short factsheets, which provide practical guidance on how monitoring bodies can focus on a number of systemic issues that are particularly high-risk factors for torture or ill-treatment.

The plan focuses on ways of reducing overcrowding in prisons around the world.

This document is aimed at specialists and non-specialists faced with the responsibility of creating a policy and legislative framework for criminal justice and penal systems.