Prison Reforms - UNODC perspective

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Prison Reforms- UNODC perspective

• Dr. Jayadev Sarangi, Prison Expert
• UNODC ROSA
• APCCA,2008
• Langkawi, Malaysia,
• 24th November 2008

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UNODC MENU OF SERVICES RULE OF LAW JUSTICE

• United Nations standards and norms in crime
  prevention and criminal justice
• Law enforcement effectiveness accountability and
  oversight
• Crime prevention
• Judicial reform
• Juvenile justice
• Prison reform
• Legal aid
• Alternatives to imprisonment
• Restorative justice
• Violence against women
• Support to victims of crime
• Vulnerable groups within the criminal justice
  system
• Extradition and mutual legal assistance
• Witness protection

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UNODC MENU OF SERVICES HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT

• DRUG PREVENTION, TREATMENT AND REHABILITATION
• Drug abuse prevention
• Drug dependence treatment and rehabilitation
• HIV/AIDS PREVENTION AND CARE
• HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment amongst
  injecting drug users
• HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment in
  prisons
• HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment among
  people vulnerable to human trafficking
• ALTERNATIVE DEVELOPMENT
• Alternatives to illicit crop cultivation
• Sustainable livelihoods

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Realities on the ground

• Over-crowding
• Majority are remand prisoners
• High prisoner turnover
• Low civil society participation in prison reforms
• We and Them Divide
• Protection mechanisms for the weak and vulnerable
  inadequate
• Constraints - human and financial resources
• Low awareness - drugs and HIV
• Denial no sex, no drug, no violence
• Sexual risk behaviour MSM, coercion
• Large number of married inmates
• Post release follow up of prisoners is very
  negligible

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Major Achievements

• Rolling out interventions in 27 prison sites
  (e.g., Bangladesh ,Bhutan, India, Maldives,
  Nepal, Sri Lanka)
• A critical mass (418 Master Trainers) of human
  resources trained (including prison officials,
  health workers and civil society partners)
• Reached out to approx. 27000 persons in the
  prison community including prison inmates and
  field level prison staff in the region

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UNODC Tools
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Prison Reforms Initiative ROSA thrust areas

• Application of Standard Minimum Rules for
  Treatment of Prisoners- A Human Rights
  perspective
• Capacity of Member States to apply international
  standards on the professional management/operation
  of prisons
• Advocate for and create awareness to ensure that
  adjustment of laws and policies should be in
  conformity with international standards and norms
  on diversions, restorative justice and
  non-custodial sanctions
• Increased application by Member States of
  strategies to improve overall healthcare of
  prisoners including the reduction of the spread
  of drugs/HIV in Prisons of South Asia
• Sensitization and capacity building of law
  enforcement officials

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Prevention of drugs and HIV in prisons of South
Asia (Project RAS/H71) Prison Intervention
sites
Country No. of sites
Bangladesh Bhutan 2 1
India 4
Maldives 1
Nepal 5
Sri Lanka 14
Total 27
Disclaimer The boundaries do not reflect the
official position of UNODC
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Countries Remand prisoners and/or pre-trial detainees as of all prisoners
Bhutan NA
India 65.7
Bangladesh 69
Sri Lanka 49.4
Nepal 51
Maldives NA
Source International Centre for Prison Studies,
London, 2008
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Countries Capacity Actual population Occupancy level
India 263,911 373,271 141.4
Bhutan NA NA NA
Bangladesh 27,451 83,000 302.4
Sri Lanka 10,692 25,537 193.2
Nepal 5,000 6,700 142.6
Maldives 763 1125 147.4
Source International Centre for Prison Studies,
London, 2008