People with Incarceration Experience (PIEs)/ Desisters

Assisting People with Incarceration Experiences

Those who have been incarcerated often face significant challenges upon their release, including finding housing and employment, reuniting with family and friends, and reintegrating into their communities. These challenges can make it difficult for people with incarceration experience to successfully transition back into society and lead fulfilling lives.

By helping PIEs, society can have positive social and economic benefits. For example, providing resources and support to people who have been incarcerated can reduce the likelihood of recidivism, which can save money on the cost of incarceration and reduce crime rates. It can also help to strengthen communities by supporting the successful reintegration of individuals who have been formerly incarcerated.

Our Goals and Areas for Focus

The Sustainable Development Goals

Area of Focus: Doha Declaration Global Programme by UNODC - United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime

Sustainable Development GoalsDoha Declaration Global Programme (UNODC)

From - https://www.unodc.org/dohadeclaration/en/topics/sustainable-development-goals.html

Judicial Integrity

contributes to SDG 16 by promoting equal access to justice for all, reducing corruption and developing effective and transparent institutions. The component’s focus on gender-related judicial integrity issues has been a key driver of gender mainstreaming in judiciaries and in their achievement of SDG 5 (Gender Equality). Events organized on the ethical use of Artificial Intelligence in judiciaries also contribute to the achievement of SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure). The component also supports the realization of SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals), as the Global Judicial Integrity Network is the first multi-stakeholder network created to promote judicial integrity.

Prisoner Rehabilitation

Contributes to SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) and SDG 16 and 17. Prison, as part of the more extensive criminal justice system, can contribute to creating a peaceful and inclusive society by upholding the rule of law through ensuring appropriate and right-based treatment of prisoners and offering them opportunities for rehabilitation. Key elements for prison reform are also highlighted in several SDGs, such as the need to provide basic healthcare (SDG3 - Good Health and Well-Being) and sanitation (SDG 6 - Clean Water and Sanitation), and the needs of specific groups of prisoners including women and girls (SDG 5). As a result of prison-based rehabilitation programmes supported by the Global Programme, prisoners have a better chance of finding decent work post-release, contribute to society and face less risk of reoffending which addresses SDG 10 (Reduce Inequalities).

Education for Justice (E4J)

contribute to SDG 4 by supporting primary, secondary and tertiary level educators through a variety of educational resources and activities that contributes to the achievement of SDG 16. In doing so, multi-stakeholder partnerships (SDG 17) forged under the initiative with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and various higher education institutions such as the International Association of Universities enables E4J to strengthen knowledge on life values, as well as crime, justice, and the rule of law. E4J also contributes to SDG 10 by directly engaging vulnerable groups such as indigenous populations.

The Youth Crime Prevention through Sports

Contributes to the achievement of SDGs 3, 4, 11 and 16 by providing Member States with an innovative tool under the Line Up Live Up initiative to help reduce crime and promote the use of sport as a tool to create safer and more inclusive areas. The component also contributes to SDG 5 through enhancing girls’ empowerment and challenging negative stereotypes and attitudes that justify gender-based violence and SDG 10 by directly engaging vulnerable youth in marginalized communities.

Area of Focus: SDG8: Decent Work and Economic Growth and SDG10 Reduced Inequalities

SDG 8.8 Protect labour rights and promote safe and secure working environments of all workers, including migrant workers, particularly women migrants, and those in precarious employment.

Area of Focus: SDG16 Promote peaceful inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all level

SDG 16 is important for overall progress and success of the other SDGs because it promotes peaceful and inclusive societies, access to justice, and the reduction of corruption. UNODC helps to achieve the targets of SDG 16 through its work on data collection and crime prevention.

UNODC is responsible for gathering data on crime and criminal justice for the SDG 16 targets and also contributes to the measurement of other targets. The organization collects data on crime and the criminal justice response through administrative records and surveys, and uses this data to track trends and evaluate crime prevention measures. UNODC is also working to improve its indicators on topics such as homicide, trafficking in persons, and criminal justice efficiency, while also helping countries to improve their ability to monitor progress on SDG 16.

Read Details here

Organisations

IGOs

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

Singapore

NGOs

Self-Help Groups/ Ground-Up Initiatives

Projects, Events, Programmes

Programmes

Resources

Tools

Standards, Indicators and Metrics

Prisons in SingaporeAll prisons in Singapore are co-located in one vast prison complex: the Changi Prison Complex which can house 23,000 prisoners. The Singapore Prison Service hired, in 2001, Burson-Marsteller, the world’s largest public relations firm, to pilot his image transformation. The government tightly controls the media to maintain an aseptic vision of what goes on inside prisons.

data.gov.sg/dataset/incarceration-rate

Papers & Publications

Case Study- Towards a Society without Re-offendingThis case study charts Singapore Prisons Service's transformation journey over the years and discusses the origins of the YRP and its key milestones.

Case Study: Towards a Society without Re-offending by Civil Service College, Singapore

Leave no one behind: including the health of prisoners in international development frameworks is essential for achieving sustainable development goals

www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JHR-03-2020-0060/full/html

Global Prison Trends: Special Focus - THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE

https://cdn.penalreform.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Global_Prison_Trends_2017_Special_Focus.pdf

Managing offenders: establishing the impact of incarceration and what works in Singapore

www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/SC-06-2015-0024/full/html

Understanding and Improving the Health of People Who Experience Incarceration: An Overview and Synthesis - PubMedThe world prison population is growing at a rate that exceeds the rate of population growth. This issue of Epidemiologic Reviews comprises articles in which researchers summarize what is known about some of the key health issues facing people in prison, particularly in relation to human immunodefici …

Recidivism rate at all-time low; more inmates serving part of jail term in community: Prison ServiceSINGAPORE: The recidivism rate in Singapore has dipped to an all-time low and more inmates are serving part of their jail term in the community, the Singapore Prison Service (SPS) said on Wednesday (Feb 3).According to the latest annual statistics released by SPS, the overall recidivism rate for

Why The Next Government Needs To Address Drug Related Incarceration In SingaporeIn 2019, about two-thirds of the Singapore prison population was incarcerated for drug offences. So to speak about a safe and inclusive society, we need to address the record number of drug abusers arrested this year.

Five Stages of IncarcerationTo understand typical changes prisoners experience as they process their new life as prisoners, we need to look at the five stages of incarceration.