Information, topic by topic, on prisons across the world

June 13, 2019

United States: 300 inmates in Texas' Harris County jail are quarantined over a mumps outbreak

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North America United States

A mumps outbreak at the Harris County jail in Houston has forced staff to isolate 14 symptomatic people and quarantine a few hundred other inmates, officials said Thursday.

June 12, 2019

United States: San Francisco announces plan to stop charging jail inmates for phone calls

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North America Social ties United States

San Francisco Mayor London Breed and Sheriff Vicki Hennessy on Wednesday announced plans to stop charging inmates to make phone calls from jail and to eliminate the county’s markups on items sold at the jail commissary.

June 11, 2019

United States: after a transgender woman’s death at Rikers, calls for justice and answers

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North America LGBTQI United States

In April, Layleen Polanco, a transgender woman, was arrested on misdemeanor assault charges and sent to the Rikers Island jail complex because she could not afford to pay a $500 bail. Nearly two months later, she was found dead in her cell.

June 6, 2019

United States: what it’s like to spend half a life in solitary confinement?

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North America Discipline United States

Tony Medina has spent two decades in a concrete box in Texas, alone.

June 6, 2019

United States: district of Columbia could restore voting rights to felons in prison

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North America United States

The nation’s capital is set to consider legislation that would let people with felony convictions vote while in prison.

June 3, 2019

United States: how secret languages thrive behind bars?

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North America United States

On a now-private Facebook page, a prison guard in Texas casually joked last month about wanting to “gas” prisoners (throw urine or feces at them). Others in Georgia and Missouri posted about putting inmates in “the box” or “the hole” (slang for sending them to disciplinary confinement).

June 3, 2019

United States: the latest YouTube craze, videos that show you what it’s like to live in prison

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North America United States

Prison channels on YouTube have more than 2.1 million subscribers.

May 27, 2019

United States: commissioner says Alabama prison system culture must change

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North America United States

Much has been reported about the scarcity of staff, overcrowding, and crumbling physical conditions in Alabama’s prisons.

May 27, 2019

USA: a San Quentin prison culinary program and its restaurant-ready inmates

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North America United States

The scent of brown butter and toasted pine nuts wafts from the H Unit kitchen of the oldest prison in California, where eight inmates are learning to make gnocchi. Outside, the building is surrounded by guards and razor wire. But inside save for the knives chained to the work stations this could be…

May 26, 2019

United States: why are so many people dying in US prisons and jails?

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North America United States

The number of Americans dying while incarcerated has surged while the US prison population has increased by 500% over the last 40 years.

May 25, 2019

United States: it looks like any other graduation except these graduates earned their degrees in prison

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North America United States

There was pomp and circumstance. There were caps and gowns. Proud family members sat in the audience.

May 23, 2019

United States: Florida pushes back in prison hepatitis legal battle

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North America United States

Last month, Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker expanded the number of inmates ordered to receive potentially expensive care, following up on a previous order that mandated the state properly treat inmates with the virus.

May 21, 2019

United States: miscarriages, a baby born in a cell, inadequate services for disabilities

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North America United States

Women miscarrying due to a lack of proper health care, a woman giving birth alone in a cell, and deaf inmates not getting interpretation services during doctor visits.

May 17, 2019

United States: let prison inmates vote

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North America United States

Should Americans caught up in the justice system be stripped of their right to vote?

May 14, 2019

United States: who's legally responsible for prison and jail suicides?

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North America Suicide United States

Lawsuits used to be a path to prison reform, but they’re now an uphill battle for prisoners and their families.

May 13, 2019

United States: the Democratic debate over letting people in prison vote, explained

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North America United States

Bernie Sanders sparked a debate over prisoners voting rights. But most of the public and most Democrats aren’t on board.

May 10, 2019

United States: texas Senate passes bill to end the shackling of pregnant women in prison

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North America Women United States

The bill addresses many of the conditions of the state’s incarcerated women. It would also require the department to offer up to 10 free feminine hygiene products to women each day.

May 6, 2019

United States: "a culture of cruelty"

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North America United States

Protesters gathered at the Arizona Capitol on Friday afternoon, demanding the firing of Arizona Department of Corrections Director Charles Ryan, and saying that the state’s prison system has a “culture of cruelty.”

May 3, 2019

United States: penalties make life after prison difficult in Tennessee

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North America United States

With each criminal conviction, the state of Tennessee matter of factly tells the defendants how long they will spend behind bars. Hidden from view, in the fine print, is a long list of additional penalties attached to these convictions.

April 29, 2019

United States: treated like "animals", lockdown at prison over guard shortage entering 4th month

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North America United States

Roughly 1,800 of the 3,000 inmates at the South Mississippi prison in Leaksville are locked in their cells 23 hours a day and haven’t been allowed visitors in at least three months.

April 27, 2019

United States: broken locks at Arizona prison lead to inmate's serious assault, death

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North America United States

On June 6, 2018, inmates should have been locked in their cells in the Morey Unit at Arizona’s Lewis Prison outside Buckeye.

April 24, 2019

United States of America: prison population is shrinking

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North America United States

In 2018, the number of prisoners hit a nine-year low. But some states are resisting the trend. The number of people in U.S. prisons fell to a nine-year low of just under 1.5 million last year, a 1.3 percent decrease, according to a report released today by the nonprofit Vera Institute of Justice.

April 23, 2019

United States of America: solitary confinement worsens mental illness

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North America Discipline Mental health United States

Prisoners who volunteered for a mental health diversion program say promises of therapy and time out of their cells weren’t fulfilled. And Texas prison officials aren’t regularly tracking success rates — even as they ask lawmakers to fund an expansion of the program.

April 20, 2019

United States of America: congress considers making college more accessible to people in prison

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North America United States

Inmates are among the least-educated people in America. That’s despite research that shows education is one of the most effective ways to keep people from coming back to prison.