Prison overcrowding in Commonwealth countries
As the Commonwealth heads of government meet in Kigali, Catherine Heard, Director of the World Prison Research Programme, calls for better data as a first step to ending chronic prison overcrowding.
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Donate to WPBBridging the gap between reformists and abolitionists: Can non-reformist reforms guide the work of prison inspectorates?
Dr Sarah Lamble is a Reader in Criminology and Queer Theory at the School of Law, Birkbeck and researches issues of gender, sexuality and imprisonment, as well as alternative forms of justice. Sarah is an organiser with Abolitionist Futures and a founding member of the Bent Bars Project, which coordinates a letter-writing programme for LGBTQ prisoners in Britain.
Here, Sarah reflects on Justice Edwin Cameron’s recent ICPR annual lecture, titled: 'Do prisons work? If not, do prisons inspectorates do more harm than good?’, applying the concept of ‘non-reformist’ reforms. This term, coined by Austrian philosopher André Gorz with reference to political economy, was further developed by prison abolitionists Thomas Mathieson and Angela Davis.
ICPR annual lecture, 18 January 2022: 'Do prisons work? If not, do prisons inspectorates do more harm than good?’
Do prisons work? If not, do prisons inspectorates do more harm than good? Justice Edwin Cameron will consider these questions in a lecture titled: ‘Prisons and prisons inspectorates: puzzles and paradoxes'.
Prison populations continue to rise in many parts of the world, new report published by the Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research shows.
Some 11.5 million people are held in penal institutions throughout the world, according to the latest edition of the World Prison Population List (WPPL), researched and compiled by Helen Fair and Roy Walmsley and published on 1 December 2021 by the Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research (ICPR), at Birkbeck, University of London.
Global partnership yields fresh insights on over-use of imprisonment
What explains the world’s rising prisoner numbers? Does prison overcrowding impact public health? How has the pandemic affected prisoners and prisoner numbers? All countries use prison as a response to crime and disorder, but to vastly differing extents. Countries face similar dilemmas in how to deal effectively with crime, yet they make widely different policy choices in response – choices with huge societal impacts.
New research reveals devastating impact of pandemic on prisoners
The prisons research team at the Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research (ICPR) at Birkbeck, University of London has published new research on measures taken to control the risk of COVID-19 in prisons, and their impact on prisoners’ health and wellbeing. The research covers a diverse group of countries across five continents and includes first-hand accounts of how life in custody changed from March 2020.
Exploring global disparities in criminal sentencing
ICPRs latest comparative research on the sentencing of burglary, drug importation and murder highlights vast disparities between different jurisdictions in their approaches to custodial sentencing across a range of offences. Here, Catherine Heard discusses some of the most striking disparities.
New research reveals vast international disparities in criminal sentences
The Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research (ICPR) at Birkbeck, University of London has published a report revealing vast disparities between countries in their approaches to criminal sentencing, with important implications for justice reform.
Is the IPP sentence turning into the Ministry of Justice’s own Windrush scandal?
Professor Mike Hough, Emeritus Professor and Founder of Birkbeck’s Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research (ICPR) explains how thousands of prisoners are still facing injustice, ten years after IPPs’ failings were first exposed, and endorses latest demands for action.
International news and guidance on COVID-19 and prisons - 1 December 2020 onwards
We are compiling a list of news articles, guidance and other resources from around the world on COVID-19 and prisons. This will be updated regularly.