January 2024
Europe
Discipline
Mental health
United Kingdom
Independent Monitoring Board says jails in England using segregation too often as a way of managing inmates
Asia
Justice
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Torture
Pakistan
Pakistan’s prisons remain terribly overcrowded and under-resourced, and nascent efforts at progressive reform are stymied by ingrained attitudes of discrimination, including against religious and ethnic minorities.
Asia
Access to legal rights
Health
Material conditions
North Korea
“There’s not much space inside the cells for each crew, so prisoners sleep very close together, with one person’s feet brushing against another’s head,” a source told Daily NK.
Africa
Health
Material conditions
South Sudan
Dozens of inmates at the Wau Central Prison in Western Bahr el Ghazal State are suffering from an unknown disease outbreak. Inmates at the facility said they have been suffering from the mysterious disease, characterized by itching and body pains, since December last year.
North America
Health
Material conditions
United States
Decarceration advocates are fighting to free older inmates as temperatures soar to deadlier heights.
Europe
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Belgium
Belgian prison staff walked out on strike for 24 hours as part of a joint trade union front, citing overcrowding and “deplorable conditions” for prisoners.
Belgium: diverging pathways
Interview
Europe
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
Alternatives
Belgium
In recent years, authorities have followed a policy of constructing new ‘mega-prisons’. At the same time, the prison estate has welcomed the creation of smaller facilities. The simultaneous development of these opposing approaches raises a number of questions.
North America
Justice
Material conditions
Canada
Over the past year, records indicate that at least 24 offenders had their incarceration time reduced due to frequent lockdowns, pest infestations, and other harsh treatment at the Toronto South Detention Centre in Etobicoke, near Kipling Avenue and the Gardiner Expressway.
