A unique international penal reform event, organised jointly by the International Centre for Prison Studies of King's College London and Penal Reform International, will be held from 13 to 17 April in Egham, Surrey, at Royal Holloway College, University of London. A keynote speaker will be The Rt Hon Clare Short MP, Secretary of State for International Development. In the former Soviet Union brave attempts are being made to reform in the face of a TB epidemic in the prisons and shortage of basics such as food and electricity. In Africa prison administrators struggle with inappropriate systems imposed by the colonisers and with lack of resources. In some parts of Asia prisoners spend years in prison waiting for their case to come to court.
Violence is endemic in the prisons of most Latin American countries.
This event brings together over 100 policy makers, practitioners and penal reformers from more than 50 countries around the world. Amongst the participants are prison administrators, human rights activists, judges, Ministry of Justice officials, parliamentarians and academics. The emphasis of the event is on solutions rather than problems. April Hamidou Diabate, Minister of Justice of the Republic of Mali David Arutyanan, Minister of Justice, Armenia Laurent Gomina-Pampali, Minister of Justice, Central African Republic Elias Carranza, Director, the United Nations Latin American Institute Asma Jahangir, UN Special Rapporteur on Arbitrary, Summary and Extra Judicial Executions Aryeh Neier, President Open Society Institute New York. The event's emphasis on solutions means that the conference will be looking at alternative ways of dealing with disputes being developed in Jamaica and New Zealand.