Below is a list of websites containing information relating to prisons and prisoners. It is organised according to country. To make it as user-friendly as possible, England and Wales are given first, followed by the United States, and then international sites. Following these, countries are listed alphabetically.
Within each country, general websites pertaining to all issues are given (both government and independent organisations’ websites). This is followed by a list of websites that give information on specific issues such as female prisoners, population data and youth issues. It has not been possible to do this for all countries, but a full a list as possible has been compiled.
Describes strategies for dealing with young and adult offenders effectively.
Gives information about news releases, publications, news updates, and links to: UK government and parliamentary sites, international organisations and prison services around the world.
Gives information about Digest 4, a statistical summary of the criminal justice system, history, a "What’s New?" section, and allows a search according to different topics that the Home Office deals with.
www.law.cam.ac.uk/crim/crimlink.htm#prisons
Provides links to government and non-government sites in Australia, North America and other international sites.
Carries out empirical research into many issues. Lists current and previous research.
Organisation seeking to increase the use and understanding of restorative justice. Carries out research into public views on this issue and runs various projects. Provides information about impact of various sentences, and lessons from abroad.
An alliance of 31 organisations, which has produced papers and manifestos on many and various issues.
A huge website covering prisons, criminal justice and penal affairs, its main focus being on England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It has a search engine, regularly updated news section, legislation details, a "best of the press" section and many links.
A commentator on UK and international prison systems, this organisation campaigns for better conditions in prisons and alternatives to custody. It provides a list of publications on various topics, which are all available on-line.
Details of sentences in England and Wales.
Monthly Prison Population Briefs going back to March 1999.
Trends and statistics from RDS
Gives population data, sentencing information, and information about women working in prisons.
Facts and figures relating to females in prisons.
Focuses on the crimes of women, security and family life.
A support and campaigning group for female prisoners. Has information on current issues, the Holloway Remand Scheme and their Training and Education Programme.
Promotes the understanding of the needs of Muslim inmates in British prisons. Provides statistics regarding ethnicity of prisoners.
Describes the prison population in terms of race.
Also gives information about establishments in Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man.
Address, telephone number, description, operational capacity, certified normal accommodation, visiting hours, directions and other information.
Gives data and information.
Gives information about MDT, visits and treatment.
Describes the British prison system, drugs used within it, and treatment.
Gives information about trends and legislation up to May 1997.
Legislation, information and developments up to June 1996.
Press releases, contacts, background information, location of youth offending teams, latest legislation, letters, editorials, speeches and articles.
The National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders is an organisation working to prevent crime, and manages projects (the results of which are unavailable at this time).
National Association for Ex-offenders. Aims to monitor pre-release courses and offending behaviour of ex-offenders. Gives data and information on discharges.
Lists titles that can be ordered via email/mail/telephone.
Gives a list of Home Office Statistical Bulletins, Statistical Findings, Research Studies, Occasional Papers and Research Findings, most of which can be viewed on-line.
Key facts, statistics about criminal offenders, corrections and prisons.
Large database covering corrections and also lists periodicals.
A "What’s New?" section and a list of publications relating to justice issues, some of which relate to prisoners, for example re-entry into society after release.
Statistics on prison population sorted by thirteen different categories, historical documents, and a list of offences.
Publishes the Criminal Justice Yearbook, which includes trends and statistics regarding adult corrections, probation, parole, jails and private prisons. Shows how you can order this, and describes some of the research studies undertaken, and lists relevant publications.
Provides links to CJS statistics, juvenile justice, drugs and crime, and links to research findings on many issues relating to crime and justice.
Describes the activities of the prisons division, and lists services, publications (not available on-line), and has a database of over 1,500 items. Also has links to discussion groups, and related sites.
Gives data on both state and federal prisons up to 1997, as well as information on other issues.
Provides links to many different topics.
Summary of findings on the number of prisoners, recent trends, female prisoners, capacity, offence (up to 1999), and statistics from 1977 to 1996 on prisoner population (both male and female), prisoners in custody, sentenced prisoners, and population by offence and other variables. Also gives information on HIV, mental health and prior abuse of prisoners.
Regularly updated information about US prison populations.
Useful prison statistics covering state and federal populations, women, HIV etc.
Article on the growth of the prison population.
Weekly prison population data.
Prison statistics on females.
American Indians and crime.
Statistics regarding ethnicity, 1986 to 1996.
Gives some general statistical information.
Data on adults under correctional supervision, on probation, alcohol and drug use, juveniles, trends and characteristics of inmates (some data up to 1999).
Provides a list of correctional departments in 30 different states.
Substance abuse in prisons up to 1997.
In Public Information, gives information about drug treatment.
Describes the prison drug scene, with some statistics.
Data on under 18s from 1985 to 1997.
News and links.
Selected articles from Corrections Compendium and Corrections Today.
American Jails Magazine and Bulletin.
United Nations Protocol
A report regarding prison overcrowding and prison population inflation can be found at www.coe.fr/cm/ta/rec/1999/99r22.htm, and the number of prisoners and detention rate per 100,000 inhabitants for 29 countries can be found at www.penlex.org.uk/pages/eurpenal.html.
Gives details of world prison populations.
Prison conditions and the treatment of prisoners from national and international perspectives.
What’s new? section, and information on research projects. Has links to dozens of penal organisations, prison resources and other criminal justice organisations.
A forum for CJS professionals to share ideas and engage in dialogue. Researches various prison-related topics, for example, offender re-integration. Also includes legislation and UN guidelines and rules regarding prisons.
Criminal justice throughout the world
Prison populations in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia, expressed as prisoners per 100,000 population.
Compares prison populations in Britain, Europe and the world according to a number of variables (up to 1995), as well as a section on the lessons we could learn from America.
Description of Centre for International Crime Prevention, including global programmes and research. Lists institutes concerned with crime. UN rules and publications list. Gives statistics.
Describes project, and gives world resources on health in prisons.
Publishes reports and undertakes research into crime and justice. Also publishes the Crime Index (www.iss.co.za/Publications/Crime-index.html), which tracks selected indicators of crime and the CJS, for example by number of prisoners and number of escapes. Data up to 1999.
Links to African prisons in thirteen different areas.
In the Crime and Justice Section (found under Statistics) there is a statistical profile of prisoners in Australia and also of indigenous prisoners.
Library database. Gives publications, research, statistical information, directories, and news information. Links to corrections industries in each state (www.aic.gov.au/research/corrections/index.htm) and correctional statistics (www.aic.gov.au/research/corrections/stats/index.html).
Information on Western Australian prisons, adults and juveniles in custody and private prisons.
Media releases, publications regarding crime prevention and imprisonment rates (www.cjc.qld.gov.au/cjc/0105mr.shtml). Also gives a summary of population numbers in Queensland (www.cjc.qld.gov.au/cjc/summary.pdf), which has chapters on recidivism, courts and sentencing and the impact of the corrections system.
Provides many links to articles, for example private prisons and deaths in prisons.
Gives weekly figures on populations in prisons and detention facilities.
Gives population data for all states up to 1998.
www.aic.gov.au/research/corrections/stats/ti137-ext/index.html
Trends in the imprisonment of Indigenous People.
Gives details about individual establishments.
Statistics regarding juvenile populations.
Describes the Belgium prison system, drugs used within it, and treatment.
Organisation, policy and legislation, publications and links to different provincial and territorial sites.
Legislative documents, and information on a range of topics.
Suicides, women and racism in Canadian prisons.
Population data in this state.
Trends and statistics
www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/rsrch/reports/r81/r81e.shtml
Compares substance-abusing women with non-abusing women on a number of indices.
Issues relating to women in prison.
Report on the level of aboriginal people in the CJS, and a comparison of Western and Aboriginal justice.
www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/rsrch/reports/r75/r75e.shtml
Research into substance abuse in offenders.
Report of recent trends, with many statistics.
Report of trends, with many statistics.
Facts about prisons and the Probation Service in Denmark, including prison population data, and information on conditions, individual prisons and guidelines in prisoners. Also gives links to Scandinavian, Danish and European websites. This site requires a plug-in from Macromedia.
Description of the Irish prison system, including information on drugs within it.
Describes the drug laws, prison system, drugs used within it, and treatment in and out of prison.
Details of the Finish prison service, including prison administration, staff, prisoners, expenditure and escapes.
French Prison Service. Gives background and key dates, objectives, and the administered population, with statistics on the population broken down by offence, average length of detention, percentage of foreigners, as well as other variables.
Centre of Sociological Research into Penal Institutions. English version is halfway down home page. Links to reports on overcrowding and illicit substances.
Description of the French prison system, with some population statistics.
Describes the French prison system, drugs used within it, and treatment.
Centre for Criminology. This site describes its role, and research projects/scientific analyses that are carried out by the Krimz.
Gives ideas about sentencing and execution/task penalties with some statistics (www.minjust.nl:8080/a_beleid/thema/execut/execut.htm).
Describes the Dutch prison system, drugs used within it, and treatment.
Gives background to policy, and information on cell shortage, electronic tagging, and restorative justice for juveniles, and also compares Holland with the rest of Europe.
Site about Dutch prisons.
News and events and information about its system, including statistics about population, broken down by sex and age.
Description of Tihar prison, with brief statistics
Background, and information on discipline, drugs and race.
Complex in New Delhi. Gives information about population, history, infrastructure and work.
Unofficial site
Structure, function and role of the Israeli Prison Service, as well as information on staff, medical services, drugs and education.
Gives prison population statistics and a report from the Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture regarding overcrowding and regimes.
Describes the Italian prison system, drugs used within it, and treatment.
Summary of system, and number of receptions classified by offence up to 1997, as well as other data, for example on juveniles.
Article about abusive punishments in Japanese prisons.
Working to reform the Japanese criminal justice system.
Article about labour in Japanese prisons.
Article about brutal treatment in Japanese prisons.
Description of the prison system, with statistics and description of treatment of prisoners.
The introduction provides background, history, function, laws relating to prisons, and definitions of common prison-related words. It also gives the organisation of prison institutions and details of what each does.
Information about prisons and their programmes, news, publications, profile, facts and related sites. Also gives key facts and statistics (www.corrections.govt.nz/facts/key.html and www.corrections.govt.nz/facts/statistics.html) respectively.
Description of the programme.
Gives latest news and information, publications, history, prison population and details of the four establishments in the prison estate.
Gives the average prison population from 1987 to 1997, and number of persons found guilty and sentenced in each year.
Addresses of individual prisons in Northern Ireland.
Addresses of individual prisons in Scotland.
Gives annual reports on standards, targets, research and current prison population, and has a search engine.
Organisation of the Prison Service.
Gives many links to issues within the South African CJS.
Provides information about the structure, history and administration about the Department of Corrections. Also gives annual report (for 1997 and 1998), and links to other sites.
Description of the prison on Robben Island, plus escapes, conditions and visiting details.
www-dcs.pwv.gov.za/annualreport98/safecus.htm#prisons
Prison population statistics (including males, females and youths) at the end of 1998.
Description of the Spanish prison system, with some statistical information.
Describes the Spanish prison system, drugs used within it, and treatment.
Information about the structure and administration of both prisons and probation.
If you would like South Australian corrections to link to your Correctional related site, please link to us, and then email DCS.Central@saugov.sa.gov.au
Our site title is 'Department of Justice Correctional Services, Adelaide, South Australia'
Our URL is http://www.corrections.sa.gov.au/
