Prison: Evidence of its use and over-use from around the world

Prison: Evidence of its use and over-use from around the world

Overcrowding, inhumane and degrading detention conditions and disproportionate harm to marginalised groups are some of the consequences of the rapid, unrelenting growth of imprisonment worldwide, according to Prison: Evidence of its use and over-use from around the world, published by ICPR and Fair Trials on 16 March 2017.

This report, by Jessica Jacobson, Catherine Heard and Helen Fair, draws on ICPR's unique World Prison Brief database and describes patterns and trends in imprisonment in ten contrasting jurisdictions across all five continents:

  • Kenya and South Africa in Africa
  • Brazil and the USA in the Americas
  • India and Thailand in Asia
  • England and Wales, Hungary and the Netherlands in Europe
  • Australia in Oceania

All ten of these countries have experienced the negative effects of over-use of imprisonment, and all have lessons to impart about what issues need to be tackled if prisoner numbers are to come down - and stay down. The report concludes by considering how workable strategies could be developed for curbing the resort to imprisonment.

The report can be read here