In Iceland’s few open prisons, prisoners benefit from benign conditions, rural settings and internet access. This makes being imprisoned as a foreigner much easier than in other western Europen countries.
Built in 1821 to house and provide productive employment for the New South Wales colony’s growing population of female convicts, the Parramatta Female Factory was also the site of countless horrors.
One in three wrongfully convicted women were convicted of crimes that involved harming children. Once pardoned or exonerated, they experienced significant psychological and practical challenges.
Protesters hold placards during an Indigenous deaths in Custody protest in Sydney , June 2022.
Bianca De Marchi/AAP
Russell Marks’ Black Lives, White Law is not about solutions; it’s about identifying the problems with Australia’s criminal legal system, and the injustice it does to First Nations people.
As a young child, Amy Thunig, a Gomeroi/Gamilaroi/Kamilaroi woman, moved with her family to be near her father, who was incarcerated in Adelaide. It was a difficult time, but he has taught her much.
A woman runs from a house on fire after shelling in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine in June 2022.
AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov
Russia and other countries and political regimes have a long history of forcing people to move, mostly for security and economic gains.
Thousands of imprisoned persons in Ontario faced barriers to voting in the June 2 provincial election. Many will also be explicitly barred from voting in the upcoming municipal elections in October.
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Linda Mussell, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa and Jessica Evans, Toronto Metropolitan University
Elections Ontario must ensure imprisoned people are provided information on their candidates, registration assistance and facilitation by Elections Ontario employees on voting day.
A new Productivity Commission report finds prisoners cost Australian taxpayers more than $5 billion per year. The numbers are climbing while offences are falling.
With 350 artworks created by 320 Indigenous artists who are in or recently released from prison, The Torch is making a difference to how people are seen and how they see themselves.
Trucks like this are used to convey inmates to the prison in Lagos State, Nigeria. Over 70 percent of inmates in Nigeria have not appeared in court and haven’t been sentenced.
Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP via Getty Images
The proportion of prisoners awaiting trial in Nigeria is disturbing, and prolonged imprisonment can have a damaging effect on their mental functioning .
Programs designed to enhance legal access for people with cognitive disabilities accused of a crime are more humane and could be more cost effective than long-term detention.
Despite the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it remains difficult to monitor governments’ performance because there are no comprehensive human rights measures.
from www.shutterstock.com
Despite the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it remains difficult to measure governments’ performance. A new data tool gives countries a scorecard on how well, or badly, they are doing.
Fewer people who were homeless or at risk of being homeless exited poverty than in the general population.
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Less than 15% of the most disadvantaged people in Australia exit poverty from one year to the next. We need to design policy to tackle this.
People gather in Edmonton during a rally in response to Gerald Stanley’s acquittal in the shooting death of Colten Boushie.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson
Colten Boushie’s death and the subsequent acquittal of his killer has fuelled loud calls for reforms to Canada’s criminal justice system and its treatment of the Indigenous. Why has it taken so long?
Denying prisoners internet access seriously damages their prospects of rehabilitation.
Lightspring from www.shutterstock.com
Mirko Bagaric, Swinburne University of Technology and Dan Hunter, Swinburne University of Technology
If we are serious about rehabilitating prisoners and reducing reoffending, then education and integration back into the community are vital. Today, internet access is essential to achieve that.
Victoria is failing in relation to rehabilitation of prisoners and post-release support. The consequence is that more people are imprisoned, more often.
Academic Director/ Clinical Ethicist, Children’s Bioethics Centre at the Royal Children’s Hospital, and Associate Professor in Health Ethics at the Centre for Health and Society, The University of Melbourne