High-level debate on “A second chance: addressing the global prison challenge”

Prison systems around the world continue to face fundamental challenges that undermine the ultimate purpose of a sentence of imprisonment, namely, to protect society from crime and to prevent recidivism by supporting rehabilitation and preparing prisoners for their social reintegration upon release.

Overincarceration, overcrowding, poor conditions and the serious neglect of prison services are causing prisons to be a weak link in criminal justice systems and a low priority in reform efforts. The consequences for public safety, health and human rights, as well as the financial and socioeconomic costs resulting from these deficiencies, are immense. In some countries, including those in conflict, post-conflict and other crisis situations, prison deficiencies have been so severe as to negatively impact overall stability and security.

Addressing both persisting and emerging challenges in the field of prison and offender management, including its overuse, should be considered an integral part of the Sustainable Development Agenda and its commitment to “leave no-one behind”. Many problems manifested in prison settings are the result of systemic deficiencies in criminal justice systems as well as socioeconomic disparities. Effective and sustainable reform efforts therefore require a holistic reform approach aimed at addressing the root causes of overincarceration and overcrowding, and shifting policies towards prevention, alternatives to imprisonment and a rehabilitative approach to prison and offender management.

In the Kyoto Declaration on “Advancing crime prevention, criminal justice and the rule of law: towards the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, Member States stressed that it was important to improve prison conditions, to strengthen the capacities of prison and other relevant officers in line with the Nelson Mandela Rules and the UN Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-Custodial Measures for Women Offenders (Bangkok Rules) and to address prison overcrowding, including improving the overall effectiveness and capacity of the criminal justice systems. The Declaration also promotes a rehabilitative approach to prison and offender management in the context of both custodial and non-custodial settings, aimed at facilitating the social reintegration of offenders with the active involvement of relevant stakeholders and local communities, giving due consideration to the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for Non-Custodial Measures (the Tokyo Rules).

Ten years ago, the UN General Assembly adopted, by consensus, the revised UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners – an updated revised version of the original adopted back in 1957. They were named the “Nelson Mandela Rules”, in honor of the late president of South Africa who was imprisoned for 27 years due to his struggle for justice and human rights. The 122 provisions of the Nelson Mandela Rules represent the universally acknowledged blueprint for prison management and the treatment of prisoners. They outline minimum prison conditions, provide guidance, and set clear benchmarks for prison staff on how to uphold safety, security and human dignity of prisoners.
2025 also marks the 15th anniversary of the Bangkok Rules, which supplement the Nelson Mandela Rules and give guidance on the specific needs and circumstances of women in conflict with the law. With six per cent of the global prison population, women represent a minority in prison settings. Prison designs, policies and practices generally remain male-centric and often fail to address the specific needs of incarcerated women. Furthermore, criminal justice policies often do not provide sufficient entry-points for non-custodial measures for women offenders that would reflect the circumstances of their offences and their typically lower security risk profile.

Within the UN system, UNODC acts as the custodian of the UN standards and norms related to prison management and the treatment of offenders, including the Nelson Mandela Rules, the Bangkok Rules and the Tokyo Rules. In April 2021, the UN Executive Committee4 approved the UN System Common Position on Incarceration. As a policy document, this Common Position constitutes a guide for action focusing on assisting Member States in reducing the overreliance on incarceration and reducing the prison population, strengthening prison management and improving prison conditions and advancing the rehabilitation and social reintegration of offenders.

The high-level debate will be an opportunity to reiterate the importance of prison and penal reform, its impact on human rights and sustainable development, and its contribution to building safer communities and supporting the achievement of the SDGs, in particular Goal 16. The high-level debate will also provide an opportunity to highlight the importance of promoting and encouraging the use of alternatives to imprisonment as part of comprehensive crime prevention and criminal justice policies.

Members States and observers of the General Assembly, UN entities and stakeholders participating in the high-level debate will contribute to the discussion by sharing best practices from across regions, and by reflecting on persistent and emerging prison challenges, including strategies to reduce prison overcrowding the rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders into society.

Participants are invited to share their experiences and reflect on best practices and persisting challenges by addressing the following guiding questions:
-What measures and approaches have been effective in strengthening prison management and in improving prison conditions, including in low-resource environments?
-What approaches have worked best to give justice to and harmonize prison security, safety and the humane treatment of prisoners?
-What measures have been successful in meeting the specific needs of incarcerated women and their rehabilitation?
-What are the most serious obstacles to reducing the scope of imprisonment and preventing, reoffending? What are the main challenges in making greater use of non-custodial measures in appropriate cases?
-How can policy-makers, relevant stakeholders and communities be better engaged and mobilized in the rehabilitation and social reintegration of offenders?
-How can enhanced data collection, research and analysis promote rehabilitation and social reintegration policies and practices as well as a better understanding and tackling of prison challenges and deficiencies?

The high-level debate will take place on Friday, 13 June 2025, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the General Assembly Hall and from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the Trusteeship Council Chamber at United Nations Headquarters in New York. It will consist of an opening, a high-level segment for interventions from Member States and observers of the General Assembly, followed by an interactive panel discussion.

Participation in the interactive panel discussion will be open for Member States and observers of the General Assembly, the UN system, as well as representatives of nongovernmental organizations in consultative status with ECOSOC.

The United Nations Webcast services will provide live streaming coverage of the meeting as well as on-demand coverage (recorded video) in all 6 UN official languages plus floor language, through the UN Web TV website at: http://webtv.un.org.

The outcome will be a President’s summary of the discussion, to be transmitted to the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice and to all Member States, in accordance with General Assembly resolution 78/229.

Provisional Programme

Morning meeting: General Assembly Hall

10:00 a.m. -10:30 a.m. Opening segment
10:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. High-level segment

Afternoon meeting: Trusteeship Council Chamber

3:00 pm – 4.30 p.m. Interactive Panel Discussion: “Prison and penal reform: The need for change”
4:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. Continuation of the high-level segment

Full Program

Member States and Observers of the General Assembly are invited to participate at the highest possible level (Ministers) and make interventions during the high-level segment and the interactive panel discussion.

The list of speakers will open on the e-deleGATE portal on Monday, 12 May 2025 at 10 a.m. and close on Tuesday, 10 June 2025 at 5 p.m. The time limit for individual delegations will be three minutes and five minutes for statements made on behalf of a Group of States.

In view of the limited time available for the high-level segment, the texts of statements submitted by speakers inscribed on the list that are not delivered by the end of the meeting will be posted in the Journal of the United Nations. In this regard, delegations are encouraged to send their statements to estatements@un.org to facilitate interpretation and for posting on “eStatements”. Representatives of the UN system, regional and sub-regional organizations and other relevant stakeholders will also be invited to attend and may intervene during the interactive panel discussion.

There will be no pre-established list of speakers for the interactive panel discussion. Participants are invited to indicate their interest to intervene in the panel discussion by pressing the microphone button during the interactive segment.

Delegations are requested to inform the Secretariat of the accessibility requirements of their delegates to facilitate participation in meetings. Upon request, adjustments can be made to three seating arrangements with a view to enabling the participation of persons with disabilities. For individual requests, please contact the Meetings Support Section of the Department for General Assembly and Conference Management (email: accessibilitycentre@un.org; phone: 212 963 7348/9) no later than three working days prior to the meeting.

Here are the direct live (and later on demand) links:

AM: https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1a/k1ax6ppr71

PM: https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1j/k1jllhvrur

UN WEB TV