Pat-MedMUNCIX
UNODC
Prison Reform and
Alternatives to Imprisonment
When someone commits a crime the most popular form of punishment is a prison
sentence. Due to the fact that there are many different crimes a person can commit, problems
have increased surrounding prisons. Problems include but are not limited to overcrowding, poor
health services within prisons, poor prison conditions, lack of addressing special needs of certain
prisoners. The UNODC sets out to fix these problems.
One way to fix these problems is to reform the prisons for better conditions. The
promotion of human rights is important in society and we must pay attention to the violations at
hand. Also not only should the prisoners be accounted for in the prison reforms but the
communities and families as well. We also must keep in mind the economic factors of many
countries while coming up with logical solutions.
A strongly suggested way to deal with the overcrowding of prisons is finding some sort
of alternative to imprisonment. These alternatives will be made for more space in jail cells as
well as improving conditions for prisoners within them. Many countries are suffering from
overpopulation of inmates. The United States has the largest number of convicts as of right now
with 2,217,947 prisoners. The next highest population of inmates is in China, with 1,649,804
detainees. This problem is shared by other countries such as the United Kingdom, Russia, Brazil
and much more. By creating more space, there will be improvements in health conditions
because there will be no overcrowding of prisoners. Other alternatives to imprisonment would
include drug councils, prohibition periods, Custodial and Non-Custodial Measures: Social
Reintegration.
The problems at hand are huge human rights violations and the UNODC must deal with
them before they become too large to handle. The delegates of this committee must work
together to form prison reforms and alternatives to imprisonment that help countries around the
world and keeping in mind the economic factors at hand.
Points to Consider:
Does your country have any alternatives to imprisonment?
Has your country implemented any prison reforms?
What’s your countries fund for improving prisons?
Helpful Links:
https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/justice-and-prison-reform/prison-reform-and-alternatives-toimprisonment.html
https://www.unodc.org/documents/justice-and-prisonreform/UNODC_Prison_reform_concept_note.pdf
http://www.prisonstudies.org/highest-to-lowest/prison-populationtotal?field_region_taxonomy_tid=All
http://famm.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/FS-Alternatives-in-a-Nutshell-7.8.pdf
https://www.unodc.org/documents/justice-and-prisonreform/cjat_eng/3_Alternatives_Incarceration.pdf