Howard League for Penal Reform

A charity dedicated to the cause of penal reform, named after John Howard; formed by the amalgamation of the Howard Association with the Prison Reform League in 1921. Internationally, it urges the UN to promote the standard minimum rules for the treatment of prisoners, and campaigns for the abolition of corporal and capital punishment.

The Howard League for Penal Reform is a London-based registered charity in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1866 as the Howard Association, a merger with the Penal Reform League in 1921 created the Howard League for Penal Reform.

Over its 140-year history, the Howard League has had a significant impact on the development of criminal justice policy.

The League has mounted recent high-profile campaigns on children in prison, women prisoners, suicide and self-harm, prison education, and young offenders. In 2005, the Howard League set up a graphic design studio in Coldingley Prison which offers prisoners fully remunerated employment at market rates.

The Howard League often courts controversy.

The Howard League has a number of high-profile supporters, including Michael Palin, Prunella Scales, Sheila Hancock, and a large number of members of the House of Lords and House of Commons. The Howard League Centre for Penal Reform, into which the organisation moved in 2000, was officially opened by Betty Boothroyd in November 2001.

Today, the Howard League has a staff of fourteen (as of June 2006) and more than twenty trustees, including Lord Alex Carlile as President since 2006 (previous presidents include the playwright John Mortimer QC).