PRI annual report 2015

Penal Reform International's Annual Report 2015 tracks progress towards the goals of its new Strategic Plan 2015-2020. The highlights of the year include but are not limited to:

• The unanimous adoption of the revised UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners – now the UN Nelson Mandela Rules – by the UN General Assembly in December 2015. The Rules are regarded by states as the primary source of standards on the treatment of prisoners. The Nelson Mandela Rules contain substantive new guidance for governments and prison management, including on healthcare, the conduct of searches and on the use of solitary confinement. PRI engaged intensively in the four-year revision process.
• Growing engagement by PRI on the issue of radicalisation and de-radicalisation in prison.
• Progress on improving protection of children in conflict with the law in Central Asia. Following research on violence against children in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and its presentation at a regional conference, the Government of Kazakhstan and of Tajikistan made concrete commitments to start legal and policy reform.
• New projects in Morocco and Tunisia to tackle overcrowding in prisons through the introduction of community service programmes. PRI’s popular 10 point plan on addressing prison overcrowding now forms the basis of Tunisia’s national strategy to reduce overcrowding.
• Legislative and policy changes improving the treatment of vulnerable prisoners in Ukraine influenced by PRI research and advocacy.
• A new juvenile justice code and the introduction of pre-sentence reporting for children in Georgia. PRI’s South Caucasus office were active in advocating for the new code and in supporting the implementation of the new procedures by probation and social workers.

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