On this page, we present insights on some of the main implications of our ten-country research, all commissioned from leading experts in these jurisdictions. These short, accessible pieces alert us to worrying developments, engage with thorny policy dilemmas, and shine a path to lasting change.
Throughout June 2021, over 20 specially commissioned pieces of content will be released, all dealing with specific aspects of over-incarceration.
Frédéric Le Marcis is an anthropologist. He focuses on epidemic responses in prison environment in different African countries. He currently lives and works in Guinea, where he leads a research programme on the COVID-19 pandemic. Here are his insights.
Tamara Léger has worked as a researcher and adviser in human rights research, campaigns and advocacy for Amnesty International in Madagascar. Her work at Amnesty focused on criminal justice issues and the protection of natural resources. Here, Tamara draws on her previous research experience to highlight the severe impact of prison overcrowding on health and access to healthcare. She warns of major public health risks if prisoners are denied adequate care, particularly in a pandemic.
Dr. Natasha Ginnivan is a research fellow at the University of New South Wales school of psychology and an associate investigator with the UNSW Ageing Futures Institute and the UNSW Australian Human Rights Institute. Her research focuses on attitudes to ageing, age stereotypes and self-perceptions of ageing. Natasha researches the lived experience of ageing and dementia, and ageing in marginalised populations including prisoners. In this piece Natasha explores how systems of care for older prisoners could benefit from smarter leveraging of community health and technology infrastructures. She argues that alternative justice-security-care protocols could allow states to comply with their duty to provide ‘equivalence of care’ to older prisoners, without compromising the purposes of sentencing. Natasha’s research on older prisoners has been supported in part by the ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research.
Derrick Thulani Ndlovu discusses South Africa’s justice system and prison conditions with Danille Louw, of Ndifuna Ukwazi (‘Dare to know’), a social justice activism group based in Cape Town.
Michiel van der Wolf is a psychologist and a lawyer. He started his career in 2003 as a trainee psychologist in Dutch forensic mental healthcare units, known as ‘TBS clinics’. His doctoral thesis explored the historical background of the current treatment bottlenecks in the TBS system. Michiel is currently Professor of Forensic Psychiatry, at Leiden University and Associate Professor of Criminal Law, at the University of Groningen. Here, Michiel discusses the Dutch approach for dealing with those considered as mentally disordered offenders.
Pascal Tanguay is an independent consultant who has lived in Thailand for the past 17 years. From 2011 to 2015, Pascal directed the national response to prevent HIV among people who inject drugs in Thailand. He was then deputy director of the Law Enforcement and HIV Network. He continues to support civil society organizations, governments and United Nations agencies towards evidence-informed, human rights-based approaches to drugs across Asia. Here, Pascal discusses the overcriminalization of meth-related crimes in Thailand and its consequences.
Rodney Holcombe is the New York State Director for Criminal Justice Reform at FWD.us, a U.S.-based organization that advances both criminal justice and immigration reform. FWD.us is working to address the New York prison system’s ballooning aging population and fix the state's ineffective parole system. Holcombe explains the aging crisis and why parole reform could reduce racial disparities in parole outcomes, and save the state millions of dollars annually.
Ashley Nellis, Ph.D. is a Senior Research Analyst at the Washington DC-based NGO, The Sentencing Project, which has been active in the struggle to reform American law and practice on life sentences. Here, Ashley discusses America’s now commonplace use of life sentences and calls for bolder approaches to reform.
Helen Mills is Head of Programmes at the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies. Helen is currently looking at the options for impactful sentencing reform as part of the Short Prison Sentencing project funded by the Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales. In this piece, Helen discusses the vexed problem of short prison sentences.
Louise Edwards is the Director of Research and Programmes at the African Policing Civilian Oversight Forum, based in Cape Town, South Africa. APCOF is a founding member of the Regional Campaign to Decriminalise Petty Offences, and Louise led the provision of technical support to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights for the development of the Principles on the Decriminalisation of Petty Offences, and their Simplified Versions. Her work now focuses on promoting the visibility and implementation of the Principles, particularly by regional and national police organisations and their oversight stakeholders. Here, Louise reflects on the Campaign’s work and its challenges.