Alternatives
Prisons on the margins of European elections
Analysis
Investigations
Europe
Access to legal rights
Justice
Overcrowding
Alternatives
The citizens of the 27 member States of the European Union will go to the polls from 6 to 9 June. What role do prison issues play in the electoral campaigns?
Türkiye: prisons in 2024
Analysis
Pre-trial detention
Women
Europe
Minors
Foreign prisoners
LGBTQI
Long-term prisoners
Mental health
Material conditions
Facilities
Suicide
Torture
Activities
Social ties
Alternatives
Work
Turkey
All there is to know about Turkish prisons in 2024. Key figures, life in detention, references: discover all the data gathered by Prison Insider.
North America
Facilities
Alternatives
United States
Gov. Gavin Newsom went far beyond the promise he made in his first year in office to close at least one California state prison. But now, he is resisting calls from criminal justice advocates and liberal state lawmakers to shutter five more penitentiaries.
Europe
Justice
Overcrowding
Alternatives
France
As the number of prisoners continues to soar, France has among Europe’s most overcrowded prisons. But with the range of imprisonable crimes also growing, Emmanuel Macron’s government shows little interest in rehabilitating convicts outside the cell walls.
Europe
Justice
Overcrowding
Alternatives
Netherlands
Due to the shortage of prison guards, outgoing Minister Franc Weerwind (Legal Protection) is taking two additional measures to reduce the pressure on prisons acutely. For instance, people who still have to serve a prison sentence of up to two months will have to do so at a later date.
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.
Africa
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Alternatives
Senegal
Senegal’s prisons are old, overcrowded and cannot manage the thousands incarcerated for petty crimes. In response, the country has launched a pilot scheme to release hundreds of inmates under electronic supervision.
South Africa: prisons in 2023
Analysis
Africa
Pre-trial detention
Women
Minors
Foreign prisoners
LGBTQI
Long-term prisoners
Mental health
Material conditions
Facilities
Suicide
Death penalty
Torture
Activities
Social ties
Alternatives
Work
South Africa
All there is to know about South African prisons in 2023. Key figures, life in detention, references: discover all the data gathered by Prison Insider.
Middle East
Facilities
Alternatives
Rehabilitation
Bahrain
The International Ombudsman Institute “IOI” President Chris Field has praised Bahrain’s open prison and rehabilitation center in Hamala, calling it a “model that can be used in other countries”.
A prison called home
Investigations
Social ties
Alternatives
Rehabilitation
Electronic monitoring allows individuals to serve their sentence at home with their family. In practice, however, the experience of electronic monitoring is a difficult undertaking. Can one’s home become a prison? What impact does surveillance have on their loved ones? Investigation.
Caught in the spiral
Thematic paper
Africa
Pre-trial detention
Asia
Access to legal rights
Justice
Drugs
Alternatives
Rehabilitation
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.
Building bridges through education
Interview
South America
Europe
Activities
Alternatives
Rehabilitation
Many initiatives are emerging as alternatives to the traditional prison, focusing on education rather than security. What is meant by education? How does it lead to change? Sergio Grossi answers our questions.
Changing the scale
Thematic paper
South America
Europe
Facilities
Social ties
Alternatives
Rehabilitation
New insights are arising concerning alternative forms of detention that are integrated into the community, small-scale and focused on the needs of individuals. This series explores experience from the field, ideas that remain on paper and the potential limits of “small-scale” detention.
France: "a change of tactics"
Interview
Crises
Europe
Justice
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
Alternatives
France
In 2020, the French government was found to have violated the European Convention on Human Rights, due to demeaning detention conditions in French prisons. What is the state of affairs today? The National Human Rights Advisory Commission speaks on the issue.
Africa: the threat of punishment
Interview
Austria: through the lens of the incarcerated
Investigations
Coronavirus
Europe
Foreign prisoners
Overcrowding
Alternatives
Rehabilitation
Work
Austria
Prisons might be one of the most severely underreported spheres in our otherwise heavily investigated world. Journalist Sarah Yolanda Koss dives into Austrian prison issues.
“Hearing the sounds of the city”
Interview
Facilities
Alternatives
Rehabilitation
Work
France
Detention villages, open prisons, small prisons: what is there to say? We asked geographer Olivier Milhaud three questions. For him, large prisons built outside of cities are “a disaster”.
Park closed
Analysis
Facilities
Alternatives
France
“Quiet, we’re closed “ Marc Uhry thinks about the shrinking of freedom. Free rein on city, prison and confinement.
Material conditions
Facilities
Alternatives
Work
France
Does having a prison in a region represent a money-making venture? Does it generate jobs? Does it increase the total amount of funds granted to a municipality? The point of view of Isabelle Leroux.
Prison & the city
Thematic paper
Material conditions
Facilities
Social ties
Alternatives
Rehabilitation
Hidden prison, modern prison, dilapidated prison, “open” prison: wall to wall, Prison Insider investigated the links between city and prison. In partnership with Rescaled, we gave a number of different people a space to share their point of view.
