10th April 2007
Prison governors have delivered an urgent warning to ministers that building new jails will not solve the criminal justice crisis and that too many minor offenders with mental health and alcohol problems are being locked up.
8th April 2007
Once additional public costs - such as foster care for prisoners' children and income support - are factored in, the cost of imprisoning for a year soars by nearly a third.
21st February 2007
California is being urged to drop or overhaul its no-smoking policy in prisons after black market prices in jail reached $125 (£64) for a packet, sparking riots and a booming trade that is diverting warders from their duties.
15th February 2007
Written submission of the UK Government in the case of Shelley v UK, which examines the issue of prison syringe exchange
14th February 2007
There is a general consensus among criminologists that minimum mandatory sentences do nothing to deter crime. The gun crime bill was introduced primarily as a response to a wave of gang-related shootings that plagued Toronto and other large cities in 2005, months before the last election.
14th February 2007
By 2011 one in every 178 U.S. residents will live in prison, according to a new report released today by the Public Safety Performance Project of The Pew Charitable Trusts.
19th January 2007
Following an inquest into an inmate's injection drug overdose at the Woodford Correctional Center, Queensland Coroner Michael Barnes has come out in support of clean syringe access for prisoners.
15th January 2007
A new Canadian study says roughly three-quarters of federal spending to fight illegal drugs is going towards unproven and possibly counterproductive enforcement measures while an insignificant amount is being spent on potentially more effective "harm-reduction" measures.
10th January 2007
The importation of illegal drugs into jails has increased over the past five years despite several new to curb the flow, an internal government audit shows.
4th December 2006
New US study by two economists shows that, when controlling for all other factors, the harsher the prison conditions, the more likely the person will re-offend within three years of release.
Respect for rights in the penal system with prison as a last resort.