UN Crime Congress Ancillary Event: Promoting prison-based rehabilitation programmes

Increasingly the world over, the concept of rehabilitation is winning ground over that of punishment when dealing with prisoners. Penitentiaries around the globe are striving to effect change by providing inmates with opportunities during their sentence, so that they can more easily be reintegrated into society and become, once again, active and fulfilled members of their communities.

International standards include the Nelson Mandela Rules, of which UNODC is the guardian, stipulating that imprisonment should not be limited to the deprivation of liberty, but that it should be a time for the re-education of prisoners. Rehabilitation includes a number of venues, but for UNODC’s Prisoner Rehabilitation initiative, resources and support have been developed in the three core areas of education, vocational training, and employment during prison years, with the goal of contributing to the prisoners’ employability after release, and thus reducing chances of recidivism.

An Ancillary Event at this week’s 14th Crime Congress in Kyoto was held by the Prisoner Rehabilitation initiative to discuss the promotion of rehabilitation programmes, and the post-release services to foster prisoners’ social reintegration. Joining UNODC experts were Ambassador Sultan bin Salmeen Al Mansouri, Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations in Vienna; Satoru Ohashi, Director-General of the Correction Bureau in the Ministry of Justice of Japan; Raphael Hamunyela, Commissioner General of the Namibian Correctional Service; Troy Jack Thevathasan, correctional rehabilitation specialist in Singapore; Reynhard Silitonga, Director General of Corrections, Ministry of Law and Human Rights in Indonesia; and Olivia Rope, Executive Director of Penal Reform International.

Catch the full session in the video below and follow all our reporting from the 14th Crime Congress on Twitter and by using #DohaToKyoto.