Penal reform

This page provides resources on transitional justice, as part of the GRC Exchange topic guide to Safety, security and access to justice.

Page contents

Definition of topic and content

Improving conditions: prison farms

Where is a good place to start?

Alternatives to prisons

Handbooks

What other resources are available on the GRC Exchange?

Improving conditions: reducing pre-trial detention

Additional information resources

Definition of topic and content

In recognition of the poor state of prisons in most developing countries, DFID supports humane and cost-effective methods to reduce congestion and improve prison conditions. These include alternatives to imprisonment for minor offences, increased focus on reparation and rehabilitation over retribution, special provision for young people in the penal system and practical methods to improve conditions, such as prison farms and health initiatives.

As well as the documents highlighted on this page, the GRC Exchange holds a wider selection of penal reform documents on the Information Database. Click here to access these.

Where is a good place to start?

A central issue discussed in the literature on transitional justice is the question of what justice and reconciliation should entail and how to balance often conflicting imperatives. For example there are potential contradictions between certain forms of justice for victims and the need for a stable and peaceful transition. These considerations need to be addressed by all transitional justice programmes. The IDEA handbook below provides a useful introduction to these debates by offering a policy-oriented vision of reconciliation and justice based around the central importance of democratic institutions and processes.

Tkachuk, B., 2001, International Prison Policy Development Instrument, International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy.
This detailed and comprehensive prison policy instrument is a compilation of standards and policies from national and international sources and covers everything from the transfer of keys to dealing with transsexual inmates. Policies are based on the rule of law and national and international human rights standards—mostly UN standards, such as The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Full document available online

Handbooks

These documents provide guidance on implementing internationally-recognised prison standards in policy and practice:

Coyle, A., 2002, A Human Rights Approach to Prison Management: A Handbook for Prison Staff, International Centre for Prison Studies, London.

How can human rights form an integral part of prison management? What are the common factors that constitute a model for good prison management? This handbook, produced by the International Centre for Prison Studies, draws examples from all regions of the globe, setting out standards agreed by the international community, usually through the UN.
Full document available online

Improving conditions: reducing pre-trial detention

Prisoners awaiting trial account for up to 80% of prison populations in some countries. This document focuses on 'good practice' developed in Africa and elsewhere to improve prison conditions by reducing pre-trial detention:

Penal Reform International, 2003, Draft Index, Good Practices in Reducing Pre-Trial Detention, Penal Reform International, London.

How can good practice for reducing pre-trial detention be pursued? What are the lessons to be learned from Africa and elsewhere in terms of penal reform? This paper, produced by Penal Reform International (PRI), is a work in progress aimed at policy makers, penal reformers and stakeholders in the criminal justice system. It is born partly out of a call for further exchange of examples of best penal practice at national, regional and international levels, by the Ouagadougou Declaration, 2002.
Full document available online

Improving conditions: health

Prisons can be some of the unhealthiest places in society. This paper identifies basic principles and low-cost measures for improving health in prisons.

Penal Reform International, 2002, 'Health in Prisons,' Paper presented at Pan-African Conference on Penal and Prison Reform in Africa, 18-20 September 2002.

Prisons are among the unhealthiest places in societies. Here, not only are people deprived of their freedoms, but they are subjected to violence, addiction and infectious disease. Why are prison conditions a threat to prisoners’ health? What exacerbates this and what are the structural problems? Which principles should rule prison life? This article, and series of connected papers, from Penal Reform International, addresses the wide issue of health in prisons and focuses on the African case in particular.
Full document available online

Improving conditions: prison farms

Food in prisons is a major expense, which is often inadequately met. This article presents a good model for prison farm management to improve prison conditions in Africa:

Penal Reform International, 2002, A Model for Good Prison Farm Management in Africa, Siber Ink, South Africa.

How can Prison Services in Africa improve productivity in their prison farms? In what ways can these initiatives be cost-effective, sustainable and rights- based? Prisons are not a priority spending concern for the treasury and farms appear low down the list of prison priorities. This framework, produced by Penal Reform International (PRI) is drawn from farming and management practices in eastern and southern Africa and takes the case of Malawi as its primary focus to analyse how profitability can be maximized with scarce resources.
Full document available online

Alternatives to prisons

These documents consider some alternatives to current prison systems, including alternative ways of managing prison services as well as alternatives to imprisonment:

Stern, V. (ed), 1999, Alternatives to Prison in Developing Countries, International Centre for Prison Studies/Penal Reform International, London.

Do increased levels of imprisonment bring benefits in public safety or protection from crime? Should criminal justice systems be given a higher profile when considering sustainable development and poverty reduction? This report from the International Centre for Prison Studies shows that new developments in penal policy are possible. It gives examples from Africa and the Caribbean of alternatives that may lead to a criminal justice system that is more constructive, socially just and effective.
Full document: unavailable online. Available through BLDS document delivery service. Please access full summary and then click on the link for "BLDS Document Delivery Service".

Penal Reform International 1997, Community Service in Practice, All Africa Conference, Zimbabwe 1997.

This study looks at the implementation of community service in Zimbabwe and shows how the scheme can be managed in a way that is both highly effective in terms of cost to government and benefit to the community. Zimbabwe’s experience with the scheme proved successful. The Community Service scheme has won the support of an initially hostile general public within Zimbabwe and attracted considerable interest internationally.
Full document available online

Goyer, K.C., 2004, 'Incarcerating and Rehabilitating Offenders,' in Schönteich, M., Minnaar, A., Mistry, D. and Goyer, K.C., Private Muscle: Outsourcing the Muscle of Criminal Justice Services, Monograph 93, Institute for Security Studies, South Africa.

Document summary available shortly
Full document available online

What other resources are available on the GRC Exchange?

This resource does not attempt to provide an exhaustive list of documents on penal reform. For a thorough search, please refer to the GRC Exchange Information Database.

Use the site search at the top of this page, or within the left navigation if you wish to look for wider resources on penal reform.

Additional information resources

Penal Reform International
Full summary of Penal Reform International: available through Organisations Database

International Centre for Prison Studies

Assists governments in the provision of appropriate policies on prisons and imprisonment, and provides a range of academic resources, including the World Prison Brief.

World Prison Brief is the first online resource to offer a comprehensive database of information on the prison systems of over 200 countries. Information currently available on the site includes: the prison population of each country, the prison population rate of each country, and the number of prisons, their official capacity and occupancy level. The site also contains statistics reflecting the numbers of unsentenced prisoners, juveniles and women in prison, and a database of contacts for penal agencies worldwide.