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.
News
Donate to WPB‘Prison for Profit’: documentary film screening and panel discussion, 4 December
Online panel discussion & questions: hosted by Birkbeck Institute for the Moving Image and the Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research, School of Law, Birkbeck.
New article on the impacts of COVID-19 on prison populations
An article by Catherine Heard on the impacts of COVID-19 on prison populations and wider justice systems worldwide has been published in a special, open access issue of the American journal Victims & Offenders.
4 December: "Prison For Profit" Documentary Screening And Discussion
In this searing documentary film, former prisoners, prison guard whistle-blowers and an investigative journalist paint a shocking picture of South Africa's first privatized prison, Mangaung, in Bloemfontein.
Catherine Heard on the Justice Focus podcast
Catherine Heard, Director of ICPR's World Prison Research Programme, has spoken to Omar Phoenix Khan for his Justice Focus podcast.
Catherine discusses real world use of comparative criminology and our project "Understanding and reducing the use of imprisonment in ten countries."
You can listen to the podcast here:
Apple Podcasts: http://tinyurl.com/JF-Apple
Spotify: http://tinyurl.com/JF-Spotify
The World Prison Brief is 20! Roy Walmsley, its Founder and Director, reflects on the journey so far, in conversation with Catherine Heard.
Since its launch in September 2000, the World Prison Brief (hosted and published by the Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research, at Birkbeck) has become a gem of a resource – a completely unique database, giving open access to a wealth of information on prison systems worldwide. It now provides data on almost every country in the world. With a website visited over a million times a year and data relied on by policy makers, journalists, researchers, international agencies, NGOs and activists across the world, the Brief has gone from strength to strength.
On its 20th anniversary, ICPR’s World Prison Brief adds new historic data for over 30 countries
It’s 20 years today since the World Prison Brief (WPB) website was launched.
A short prison sentence, a fine, or life imprisonment – all for the same offence: Exploring sentence disparities in ten countries
Sentencing people who are convicted of a criminal offence is complex business. The sentencing policy and practice of any given country has a significant impact on prison population and overcrowding rates, and is closely linked with the ability to provide safe, humane prison conditions in line with international standards like the UN Nelson Mandela Rules. In this blog, written for Penal Reform International, Catherine Heard, Director of the World Prison Research Programme at the Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research, explores sentencing trends (and disparities) based on a study of ten countries.
More than three million people are held in pre-trial detention and other forms of remand imprisonment worldwide
Well over three million people are held in pre-trial detention and other forms of remand imprisonment throughout the world, according to the latest edition of the World Pre-trial/Remand Imprisonment List (WPTRIL), published today by the Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research at Birkbeck, University of London.
COVID-19 in prisons – a major public health risk
Catherine Heard, Director of the World Prison Research Programme at the Institute for Crime and Justice Policy Research (ICPR) at Birkbeck, discusses the impact of COVID-19 on prison populations.