Foreword
Robert Badinter

Preface
Mary Robinson

Chapter 1. Journey of a Generation

From the arid plains to the city
Starting in politics
From activism to repression
The experience of torture
The experience of prison
A different way of learning about politics

Chapter 2. From Revolution to the Defence of Freedom

In praise of pluralism
Reaching out to the world
Defending the rights of all: the creation of PRI
North and South, a false dichotomy
Humanising prison

Chapter 3. Crime and Punishment

Dispensing justice
Only for the powerful…
Parallel justice… …or alternative justice?
A diverse situation worldwide
Justice and prison

Chapter 4. Prisons – a World Apart

Overcrowding in prisons
The United States, Russia and their emulators
Old and new offences
A crisis of criminal justice
Dramatic health and social problems
Halting the mindless reaction

Chapter 5. Prison – a Caricature of Society

The rich and the rest
Fear, order and violence
Risky cohabitation
A pathogenic environment
Prisoners and the outside world
Work in prison

Chapter 6. Do Prisoners Have Rights?

The slow process of developing laws
Good and bad learners
The ghost gulag
The unique case of Rwanda
Implementing gacaca

Chapter 7. Alternatives to Prison

Prevention is better
What should replace prison?
Community service
Post-sentence rehabilitation

Chapter 8. Reforming Prison

Resistance to reform
Outside influences
What reforms, and for what kind of prison?
A realistic ideal
Winning over the doubters

Postface
Simone Othmani Lellouche

About the Author

Ahmed Othmani (1947-2004) was a great figureof the human rights movement and one of the historical leaders of the left in Tunisia. Tunisia's leader Bourguiba imprisoned Othmani (1966-1980). This led him to establish Penal Reform International (PRI) whom he served until he was killed in a hit and run road accident in Morocco in December 2004.

Table of Contents

About the Author