Information, topic by topic, on prisons across the world

April 16, 2018

USA: locked up and vulnerable, when prison makes things worse

News

United States

Many incarcerated women are victims themselves – of mental health problems, and of crimes worse than their own. Is prison the wrong place for them?

April 10, 2018

USA: solitary confinement of mentally ill persists in Oregon prison

News

Discipline Mental health United States

The more than three dozen men incarcerated in the behavioral health unit at the Oregon State Penitentiary spend almost 23 hours a day confined to a dark, small cell — a practice akin to “torture,” according to disability rights leaders.

April 9, 2018

USA: video visitation system fails at Virginia Beach jail, preventing visits for more than a week

News

Social ties United States

Virginia Beach’s jail replaced face-to-face visits between inmates and their family and friends with a video visitation system in 2005. The system, however, has become increasingly unreliable and will be replaced with a new web-based one that no longer will require visitors to come to the facility.

April 9, 2018

Of Lengths and Measures

Portfolio

North America Facilities United States

Stephen Tourlentes began to notice prisons, especially after dark, when they broadcast their location through the use of surveillance and lighting. He spent 17 years visiting these detention facilities after dark.

April 6, 2018

USA: Washington State Penitentiary releases official count of inmates on hunger strike

News

United States

Penitentiary Spokeswoman Allison Window told the publication that about 1,315 inmates in six housing units were refusing their meals.

April 3, 2018

USA: inside a private prison, blood, suicide and poorly paid guards

News

Suicide Violence United States

JACKSON, Miss. — On the witness stand and under pressure, Frank Shaw, the warden of the East Mississippi Correctional Facility, could not guarantee that the prison was capable of performing its most basic function.

April 3, 2018

Story Of Earl Reinhardt

Portfolio

North America Long-term prisoners Health Rehabilitation United States

Sarah Bones meets Earl, who has spent the past 50 of his 75 years behind bars.

March 31, 2018

USA: a 'hellish world', the mental health crisis overwhelming America's prisons

News

Health Mental health United States

In America, jails and prisons have become the nation’s de facto mental healthcare providers – and the results are chilling

March 28, 2018

United States: let's imagine a national organizing effort to challenge mass incarceration

News

North America United States

This story is the seventh in Truthout’s “Visions of 2018” series, in which activist leaders answer the question: “What would you like to see created, built, imagined or begun this year?” Each piece will focus on a bold idea for transformation, to give us fuel as the year moves forward.

March 27, 2018

USA: Arizona prisons boss blames contractor for problems with inmate care

News

Health United States

Arizona Corrections Director Charles Ryan took the witness stand at a hearing Tuesday and blamed a medical services contractor for the state’s failure to follow through on all its promises to improve inmate care.

March 22, 2018

USA: go inside Iowa’s oldest prison this April

News

Culture United States

Tickets are now on sale for the public to tour the historic Iowa State Penitentiary over the weekend of April 14-15.

March 21, 2018

USA: new creative writing course challenges inmates at State Penitentiary

News

Activities United States

It’s a new program as part of student research teaching creative writing to inmates nearing the end of their sentence. So far, it’s making a profound difference.

March 21, 2018

USA: a new lawsuit might finally help S.C. inmates with Hepatitis C get the treatment they need

News

Health United States

A 2017 study by researchers from Emory University found that one in seven state inmates might be infected with Hepatitis C. The journal Health Affairs conducted a survey that found that less than one percent of infected inmates were treated in 2015, according to the 41 states that reported data.

March 16, 2018

USA: "voiceless" inmates find healing through poetry program

News

United States

For the past two decades, the Johnson County Library Incarcerated Services and Arts in Prison Writing programs have opened the world of literacy and writing to incarcerated juveniles and adults throughout Kansas.

March 15, 2018

United States: Oklahoma is planning to use Nitrogen gas for executions

News

Death penalty United States

After trying unsuccessfully for months to obtain lethal injection drugs, Oklahoma officials said Wednesday they plan to use nitrogen gas to execute inmates once the state resumes using the death penalty, marking the first time a U.S. state would use the gas to carry out capital punishment.

March 12, 2018

USA: from retaliation to torture in a Florida prison unfit for habitation

News

Torture United States

An update on conditions in prisons in Florida from Kevin “Rashid” Johnson.

February 26, 2018

USA: inmates and students brought together by poetry

News

United States

Michigan State University students make a weekly visit to the Richard A. Handlon Correctional Facility in Ionia to learn, write and perform poetry with prisoners.

February 12, 2018

How can images tell the story of mass incarceration in the US?

News

United States

Aperture Magazine announces “Prison Nation” issue, exhibition, and public engagement series.

February 6, 2018

USA: teens sentenced to life in prison say Maryland’s parole system is unconstitutional

News

Justice United States

Judges on Maryland’s highest court expressed concern Tuesday that the state’s parole system has not released for two decades any inmates sentenced to life in prison for crimes committed as teenagers.

February 6, 2018

USA: yes, lots of people go to jail because they can't pay a fine

News

Justice United States

From 1990 to 2004, the rate of people on probation who were sent back to jail for noncompliance grew by 50 percent.

February 4, 2018

Georgia: first-hand report / hunger strike in GA prison

News

United States

The following letter from an inmate who writes that they have started a hunger strike in a Georgia Prison was originally published by the Atlanta Anarchist Black Cross.

February 1, 2018

USA: "Bio Warfare" - How prisons help the spread of hepatitis C behind bars

News

Health United States

Anarchist prisoner Noah “Kado” Coffin offers some observations about the conditions that allow the spread of Hepatitis C behind bars, and the Texas prison system’s indifference to the disease.

January 30, 2018

USA: women's prison populations in 35 states 'worse than men's' study says

News

North America Women United States

In a few states, women’s prison populations have even grown enough to counteract reductions in the men’s population.

January 24, 2018

How does anxiety haunt prisoners on lockdowns

Testimonial

United States

“Lock the fuck in! Get in your cells!” The beginning of a lock down. Eric Van Buren, detained in the USA, shares his story.