• 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  

 

Case studies

 

Case study 1

Child Rights Information Network (CRIN) (n.d) . "Argentina: Juvenile Life Sentences Breached Human Rights Standards."

This case concerns a case before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, regarding the sentencing of five Argentinian teenagers to life imprisonment. The case study also focuses on the conditions of imprisonment.

 

Case study 2

Special Report on the Human Rights Situation at the Callapalca Prison, Department of Tacna, Republic of Peru by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Examine Section III on 'Conditions of Detention in the Callapalca Prison'.

Lecturers may choose to develop this into an in-class exercise, by requiring that students read Section III of the above report prior to attending class. The in-class component could make use of the UNODC Checklist for Internal Inspection Mechanisms to assess the prison's compliance with international human rights standards. 

 

Case study 3

' California's overcrowded jails' (2:50 minutes) depicts the causes, and consequences of prison overcrowding, and incorporates the views of prisoners on strategies to address this problem. 

Lecturers who wish to facilitate a guided discussion of this case study may consider the following questions.

What are the causes of prison overcrowding? What are the possible solutions? How might prison managers enable prisoners to spend longer periods of time out of their cells and engaged in purposeful activities.

 

Next: Possible class structure

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