• E4J University Module Series: Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice

• Module 6: Prison Reform

• Introduction and learning outcomes

• Key issues

  • Topic 1: Introducing the aims of punishment, imprisonment and the concept of prison reform
  • Topic 2: Current trends, key challenges and human rights
  • Topic 3: Towards humane prisons and an appropriate resort to alternative sanctions
  • Summary
  • References

• Exercises

• Case studies

• Possible class structure  

• Core reading

• Advanced reading

• Student assessment

• Additional teaching tools

• Guidelines to develop a stand-alone course

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• First published in July 2019
  

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  This module is a resource for lecturers  

 

Additional teaching tools

 

This section includes links to relevant teaching aides such as PowerPoint slides, video material, case studies, and other resources that could help the lecturer teach the issues covered by the Module. The slides and other resources can be adapted by lecturers.

PowerPoint presentation

• Module 6: Prison Reform

Lecturers should note that the PowerPoint slides provided for this Module are suggestions only, and should be adapted for local content. For example, lecturers are encouraged to find and integrate pictures within their presentation of the different prisons / prison conditions in the country, or to highlight relevant issues raised by local media and politicians.

Videos

Listed below are a number of short video clips (the length of each video clip is indicated in brackets) that focus on some of the different issues raised in the Module. Students could be asked to jot down a few notes when video clips are shown, which can then be used to inform group discussion.

• Tom Eberhardt | TEDxUniversityofBristol - Governor of Bastøy prison in Norway on the purpose of imprisonment (2018) - Lesson from a Governor: Prepare prisoners for life outside' (16.15 minutes).
• Kentucky Historical Society on ' Dorothea Dix and Prison Reform in the U.S.' (9.59 minutes).
• Open Society Foundation (2014) on pre-trial detention as an overlooked human rights crisis - 'The Most Overlooked Human Rights Crisis of Our Time' (2.36 minutes)
• Global Alliance for Behavioral Health and Social Justice on ' Mass Incarceration in the U.S.' (3.41 minutes).
• Penal Reform International on the damaging impact of imprisonment around the world - ' Is a prison sentence always the solution?' Also available in Spanish, French, Russian, Arabic, Georgian and Armenian (2.38 minutes).
• ACLU on the Elderly in Prison in the United States (5 minutes).
• Penal Reform International on the Nelson Mandela Rules - ' The Nelson Mandela Rules: An Animated Introduction'. Also available in Arabic, Armenian, Georgian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish (2.23 minutes).
• Thailand Institute of Justice - Just Right Channel - ' About the Bangkok Rules'
• UNODC (2014) on how prison education and training are making a difference in Bolivia, '#ANewChance in Bolivia: A Better Solution to a Safer Society' (5.58 minutes)
• UNODC's strategic response to global prison challenges (10.11 minutes).
• Open University on the limitations of imprisonment - ' Radical alternatives to prison' (2.21 minutes).
• Joe Sim, Professor of Criminology at Liverpool John Moores University, questions the extent to which the prison system in the United Kingdom meets its stated aims, and makes the case for a more humane criminal justice system - Does Prison Work? (9.13 minutes, transcript provided).

 

Next: Guidelines to develop a stand-alone course

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