Celebrating 25 years of the World Prison Brief
When: 21 April 2026, 18:00 — 19:15
Venue: Online
The Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research invites you to an online event to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the World Prison Brief website.
The website has recently been redeveloped to improve its design and functionality, with generous support from the Blanes Trust (and other private donations). This event provides Birkbeck and ICPR with an opportunity to thank these supporters and to demonstrate the capabilities of the site.
Since its launch in September 2000, the World Prison Brief has become a trusted and highly valued resource, relied on by policy makers, journalists, researchers, NGOs and activists across the world. It provides open access to the best available data on prison populations worldwide, now covering almost every country in the world.
The UN bodies, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the World Health Organisation are among the many international agencies who find the Brief an indispensable tool. The data are used as indicators of human development. They are also used to galvanize domestic penal reform: Barack Obama, reflecting on America’s need to address mass incarceration, cited World Prison Brief data in an article for the Harvard Law Review. At the event, we will hear from representatives of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and from the US NGO, Prison Policy Initiative, about the importance of the World Prison Brief in their work.
Programme
6.00 – 6.05: Welcome: Catherine Heard, Director, World Prison Research Programme, Senior Research Fellow, ICPR
6.05 – 6.15: Opening remarks: Professor Sally Wheeler OBE, Vice-Chancellor, Birkbeck, University of London
6.15 – 6.30: Introducing the new World Prison Brief website: Zinat Jimada, Research Fellow, ICPR
6.30 – 6.50: The value of the World Prison Brief
- Zaved Mahmood, Drug Policy and Human Rights Advisor, Lead on Detention / Incarceration, Rule of Law & Democracy Section, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
- Peter Wagner, Executive Director, Prison Policy Initiative, USA, nonprofit thinktank carrying out research and advocacy on over-criminalization and mass incarceration
6.50 – 7.00: A Message from The Blanes Trust: Kate Mackenzie Davey, Trustee, The Blanes Trust
7.00 – 7.15: Q&A and Close
Contacts