Archive for the ‘International’ Category

Challenges of international talks

The Howard League for Penal Reform was one of the very first non-governmental organisations to secure consultative status with the United Nations, way back in 1947, partly because we had been an active player with its precursor, the League of Nations.В  So it is interesting to watch the challenges being faced by nation states and [...]

December 17, 2009  Tags: , ,   Posted in: International, Uncategorized  No Comments

A note from a visit to German prisons

I have just returned from a visit to German prisons.В 
I spent a day in Tegel prison in Berlin, which is the biggest prison in Germany holding 1,600 adult men. It has a budget of 44 million Euros, approximately double that of a similar prison in the UK, and it showed. The huge difference was the [...]

November 23, 2009  Tags: ,   Posted in: International, Prisons  No Comments

Work in prison: different European models

I was invited to Helsinki to give a presentation to the Finnish prison service about work in prisons. One day of the annual conference was held in English with simultaneous interpretation and about 140 people attended including the head of the service and the minister.
I am quite obsessed with work in prisons, so I found [...]

September 23, 2009  Tags: ,   Posted in: International, Prisons, Rehabilitation, Uncategorized  3 Comments

Back from the Council of Europe conference

Every two years the Council of Europe organises a conference to bring together the heads of prison services in its 47 member nations. This year it was held jointly with the Scottish Prison Service in Edinburgh last week. I gave a speech about work in prisons during the session on long term prisoners along with [...]

September 14, 2009  Tags: ,   Posted in: International, Prisons  3 Comments

Kim Dae-jung

I was sad to see that Kim Dae-jung has died. I like to think I played a very small part in getting him released from prison back in the 1980s. He was a leading figure in the South Korean opposition, and following the brutal suppression by the military government of the popular and student uprising [...]

August 19, 2009   Posted in: International  No Comments

Kenya to abolish the death penalty

Exciting news that Kenya is to abolish the death penalty. I spent five years leading Amnesty International’s campaign to abolish the death penalty and am proud that the history of the Howard League is founded in the successful effort to end executions in this country. The early annual reports of the Howard Association, as we [...]

August 4, 2009  Tags: ,   Posted in: International, Sentencing  One Comment

Juvenile justice in New York

I spoke at a meeting in Bedford yesterday alongside Nick Herbert MP, shadow justice secretary, and Elizabeth Gaynes, executive director of
the Osborne Association in New York.В  It was interesting because ofВ  the consensus amongst speakers and audience, comprised mostly ofВ  magistrates and youth court practitioners, that custody for children should be avoided at all costs [...]

December 12, 2008  Tags:   Posted in: Government policy, International  No Comments