International NewsInternational News
US: Public Attitudes on Crime and Punishment 12th October 2010
A report from the Pew Center's Public Safety Performance Project on a national poll carried out in the US to explore public attitudes toward crime and punishment. Read more
UK: Plans for prisoners to work 40-hour week 6th October 2010
Announcements have been made this week about plans to get prisoners working a full 40-hour week instead of spending their days in "enforced idleness" in prison cells. However, the extent to which such proposals would be workable in chronically overcrowded Irish prisons is less clear. Read more
Guardian: Former prisons chief attacks Jack Straw over penal reform stance 28th September 2010
Barnardos CEO criticises the political game that will get in the way of penal policy reform. Read more
YouGov/Prison Reform Trust Poll 15th September 2010
A poll commissioned by the UK's Prison Reform Trust on the public's attitudes towards the imprisonment of children. Read more
Punishing Disadvantage: a profile of children in custody 14th September 2010
A new report from the Prison Reform Trust and the Institute for Criminal Policy Research provides compelling evidence for the existence of pathways from disadvantage to the prison. Read more
State Sponsored Cruelty: Children in Immigration Detention 9th September 2010
Medical Justice have released a report which represents the first large scale exploration, in the UK, of the physical and psychological harms caused and aggravated by the detention of children for immigration purposes. Read more
Ottowa Citizen: Canada's prisons not ready for inmate surge 8th September 2010
A Federal report shows that the Canadian prison system is ill-equipped to deal with an anticipated surge in inmates. Read more
Guardian: So, prison's a party, is it? 5th September 2010
Sir Ian Blair is the former commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, writing here about Ken Clarke's proposals to change prison policy. Read more
The Economist: Rough Justice in America 22nd July 2010
Never in the modern world have so many people been locked behind bars for so little. Read more
NY and UK: Use of restraint in youth custody 19th July 2010
NY Times reports on a significant expansion of mental health services for youths in custody and new restrictions on the use of physical restraint, just as the Observer (UK) reports on shocking revelations about 'Physical Control in Care' manual used in private jails for young offenders. Read more