Prison Insider, the information platform on prisons in the world

Interview

June 6, 2025

"African solutions to African challenges"

Maria Teresa Manuela is the Special Rapporteur on Prisons, Conditions of Detention and Policing in Africa. She shares insights into the African Commission’s efforts to uphold the rights of people deprived of their liberty.

Analysis

June 2, 2025

Prison: a five-star hotel?

Are prisons actually luxury hotels? In the first episode of our fact-checking series, Prison Insider responds by drawing on the daily reality of life in prisons.

Interview

April 22, 2025

Cameroon: still falling short

Access to justice is hindered. There is no mechanism to monitor prisons, and the death penalty remains part of the penal code. Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture in Cameroon is campaigning on all these fronts.

Analysis Inside Outside

April 22, 2025

Mutineers, rebels and objectors

Prison Insider, represented by Clara Grisot, contributed twelve compositions to the book InsideOutside to articulate, in a few words, the current challenges of prison life. Eighth piece: rebellion.

Testimonial

April 15, 2025

Tunisia: relentless harassment

Sonia Dahmani is a lawyer who has made the defence of women’s rights her personal crusade. She was violently arrested over a comment made during a media appearance, and immediately imprisoned. Her sister, Ramla, has become her voice. This is her account.

Thematic paper

April 15, 2025

Caught in the spiral

What are the human and social costs of the recourse to imprisonment? This series explores the experiences of various civil society organisations, formerly incarcerated people, researchers and policy makers challenging the criminalisation of poverty, status or activism.

capture_d_ecran_2025_05_12_a_17.09.19.png

May 22, 2025

Prison Insider in 2024

Staying true to its mission, Prison Insider continues to shed light on prison conditions across the globe, year after year. Take a look at the activities carried out in 2024 by leafing through our activity report.

Testimonials

Prison narratives

April 15, 2025

Tunisia: relentless harassment

Sonia Dahmani is a lawyer who has made the defence of women’s rights her personal crusade. She was violently arrested over a comment made during a media appearance, and immediately imprisoned. Her sister, Ramla, has become her voice. This is her account.

March 17, 2025

Iran: a chain of imprisonment

Soheil Arabi is an Iranian blogger and photojournalist. He has been imprisoned for several years for his activism. Some time ago, Soheil contacted us to tell his story. We share it with you here.

February 26, 2025

Türkiye: broken spirits

Berfin A. spent two years in prison, accused of showing propaganda videos to a number of students. She was subjected to various forms of torture while incarcerated. She shares with us her traumatic experience. Testimonial.

February 25, 2025

Language in the French reintegration programme

Thibaut Caudal authored a thesis on the meaning of custodial sentences and reintegration. This research led him to design a method for teaching French to people in prison at La Santé in Paris. Testimony.

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Perspectives

October 15, 2021

Europe: questioning the use of pre-trial detention

Laure Baudrihaye-Gérard, European legal director of Fair Trials, and Diana Riba i Giner MEP (Greens/EFA), discuss the potential normalisation of digital hearings in the wake of the pandemic, and the over-use of pre-trial detention.

October 15, 2021

Latin America: pre-trial detention and access to justice

October 15, 2021

South Africa: criminalizing poverty and homelessness

October 15, 2021

Solitary confinement, COVID-19 and mental health impacts

October 15, 2021

Brazil: the impact of COVID-19 on family links and prison monitoring

Prison news

Press Review

May 26, 2025

Iran: the country slams French case at International Court of Justice over citizens' detention

Iran slammed France for filing a case against it at the International Court of Justice over the detention of two French nationals in conditions Paris denounced as inhumane. Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris have been able to receive only four consular visits during their three-year detention.

May 22, 2025

New Zealand: who really makes up the country's sentenced prison population?

May 22, 2025

Iran: 2025 execution total hits 434 after seven more people hanged

May 22, 2025

Maldives: people detained without trial to be released with electronic tags

May 21, 2025

Belarus: Belarusian jailed for ‘insulting’ Lukashenko ‘mysteriously’ dies in prison

May 21, 2025

Myanmar: malnutrition and paralysis rise in prisons amid food ration cuts

May 20, 2025

Greece: incarcerated people set fires in Corfu prison to protest conditions

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Interview

March 25, 2025

Haiti: the root cause of prison escapes

Thousands of incarcerated people have escaped from Haitian prisons over recent months, but what sparked this trend? Roberson Édouard from the Centre for Research and Exchange on Security and Justice gives us the answer.

Testimonial

February 26, 2025

Türkiye: broken spirits

Berfin A. spent two years in prison, accused of showing propaganda videos to a number of students. She was subjected to various forms of torture while incarcerated. She shares with us her traumatic experience. Testimonial.

Interview

April 22, 2025

Cameroon: still falling short

Access to justice is hindered. There is no mechanism to monitor prisons, and the death penalty remains part of the penal code. Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture in Cameroon is campaigning on all these fronts.

Analysis Portfolio

February 13, 2025

“Walking into a classroom was like walking out of prison”

In.Visibles has dedicated an article to education programmes in prisons, highlighting current projects and the people behind them. We are sharing it with you here.

March 1, 2025

Women bearing the weight of the law

More and more women across the world are being imprisoned, mostly for minor, non-violent offences. What discriminatory and punitive logic is being applied? What is being done to fight back against it?

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