Eight to Three
The Prison Issue
Primary Document: The First U.N. Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders
In 1957 the United Nations held its first U.N. Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders. The result of these meetings was a comprehensive list of standards for prisons around the world. The Congress addressed the physical nature of prison facilities, the training personnel should receive and programs that should be made available to inmates. These standards cannot be achieved if prions are experiencing overcrowding and, in fact, the Congress points to overcrowding as evidence that the prison does not meet its standards. Roy Walmsley, author of the Global Incarceration and Prison Trends report, published in the Forum on Crime and Society, discusses his concern over the rate of prison overcrowding around the globe. In the report Walmsley dives deep into what it says about the justice systems which produce these astronomical population numbers in their detention facilities, and how countries can change their approach to criminal justice in order to curb this issue moviing forward. The recommendations in Walmsley’s report are as follows: 1. Put in place legislation that limits the use of pre-trial imprisonment to extremely serious cases. And if it must be used, pre-trial imprisonment should be as short as possible. 2. Increase the number of alternatives to a prison sentence: this can include fines, probation, community service, etc. 3. In cases where a prison sentence is unavoidable it should be as short as possible. 4. The increased use of parole and conditional release can help the individual reintegrate themselves back into the community. 5. Use restorative justice practices as an alternative to imprisonment.
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