Information, topic by topic, on prisons across the world

August 30, 2019

USA: how the prison economy works

News

North America United States

When economic freedoms are taken away, informal markets will always find new and ingenious ways to satisfy demand.

August 30, 2019

USA: Woman who gave birth alone in Denver prison cell files lawsuit

News

North America United States

Diana Sanchez can be seen crying out in agony before lying down on a narrow bed in clips of silent surveillance footage.

August 29, 2019

USA: for incarcerated workers, summer heat can be a death sentence

News

North America United States

Abilene, Texas—Temperatures reached 97 degrees on June 21 at the French Robinson Unit prison the day Seth Donnelly collapsed.

August 27, 2019

USA : Aging in Guantánamo

News

North America United States

This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: French

August 22, 2019

USA : douzième exécution depuis le début de l’année

News

North America Death penalty United States

This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: French

August 15, 2019

Canada: Ontario prison farms making a comeback

News

North America Canada

Two federal prison farms in the Kingston, Ont., area are getting up and running again after the former Conservative government shelved the program in 2010.

August 10, 2019

Sight — 3/12

Inside Outside

North America South America Women Asia Europe Long-term prisoners

Each month, the photographer Bertrand Gaudillère creates an image or chooses one from his archives. Prison Insider sends it to a dozen participants, prisoners around the world.They are in Argentina, in the United States of America, in France, in Switzerland, in Guatemala, in Ukraine, in Colombia, i…

August 5, 2019

Canada: new music project allows women to tell their stories from prison

News

Culture North America Women Activities Canada

Singing My Way Home pilot project helps female inmates in Miramichi compose their own songs.

August 5, 2019

United States: John Oliver cites Arizona controversy as example of prison issues on HBO's "last week tonight"

News

North America United States

In an episode centered around prison labor and reform, John Oliver focused on Arizona’s 2018 controversy surrounding feminine hygiene products for female inmates during his HBO show “Last Week Tonight.”

July 31, 2019

USA: cause of death revealed for transgender woman who died at Rikers Island

News

North America LGBTQI United States

Officials said an autopsy found that a transgender woman died of complications from epilepsy in New York’s Rikers Island jail, exacerbating her family’s suspicion that jail conditions contributed to her death.

July 25, 2019

USA: the world is turning against the death penalty. Trump will resume it.

News

North America Death penalty United States

Attorney General William Barr announced Thursday that the federal government is resuming the death penalty after nearly two decades.

July 18, 2019

Canada: santé mentale en prison, « une fabrique d’itinérance »

News

North America Health Mental health Canada

This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: French

July 17, 2019

USA: what should we do about our aging prison population?

News

North America United States

Can compassionate release laws solve the problem of the nearly 200,000 people aged 55 and older who are incarcerated in America?

July 10, 2019

Touch — 2/12

Inside Outside

North America South America Women Asia Europe Long-term prisoners

Each month, the photographer Bertrand Gaudillère creates an image or chooses one from his archives. Prison Insider sends it to a dozen participants, prisoners around the world.They are in Argentina, in the United States of America, in France, in Switzerland, in Guatemala, in Ukraine, in Colombia, i…

July 9, 2019

United States: dans les prisons américaines, les nouilles lyophilisées remplacent les dollars

News

North America United States

This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: French

July 8, 2019

USA: a rare inside look at a private prison

News

North America United States

Reporters found weapons, drugs, and rampant violence.

July 8, 2019

United States: what do people in solitary confinement want to see?

News

North America Discipline United States

Willie Sterling III imagined this: a line of people, bonded by a belief in his humanity, travelling up a hill in southern Illinois to a cross that sits at its peak. The cross was Bald Knob Cross of Peace, a colossus more than a hundred feet tall. It was made of concrete and varnished with porcelain…

July 8, 2019

USA: how electronic monitoring drives defendants into debt

News

North America Alternatives United States

Ankle bracelets are promoted as a humane alternative to jail. But private companies charge defendants hundreds of dollars a month to wear the surveillance devices. If people can’t pay, they may end up behind bars.

June 27, 2019

USA: New York City’s plan to build new jails draws backlash

News

North America Facilities United States

Despite corrections staff shuttling through the massive complex that houses roughly 7,800 inmates, from the outside, the jails on Rikers Island look abandoned. An eerie serenity is marred by the sounds of jet planes from neighboring LaGuardia Airport. The roars rattle around the rundown jails, them…

June 26, 2019

USA: Bank of America will stop lending to private-prison firms

News

North America United States

Bank of America Corp., the second-biggest U.S. bank, will stop lending to companies that run private prisons and detention centers.

June 26, 2019

USA: the U.S. prison system can harm young brains, scientist warns

News

North America United States

A teen’s brain does not magically mature into its adult form the night before someone’s 18th birthday. In fact, brain development will continue into a person’s 20s. This neural fine-tuning has serious implications for young people caught in the U.S. justice system, argues neuroscientist B.J. Casey.

June 26, 2019

USA : gangs ran this private prison

News

North America United States

It was a prison brimming with violence, awash in weapons—and severely short on guards to patrol its cell blocks. But security-camera footage caught the action when Brad Fitch arrived in unit F at Mississippi’s Wilkinson County Correctional Facility on Jan. 31, 2018.

June 24, 2019

USA: 100 prisoners In Shakopee wear blue to demand LGBTQ changes this pride

News

North America United States

Inside Shakopee Prison last Saturday. Prisoners wore blue - the only color they can wear without getting in trouble - to protest in favor of changes demanded by LGBTQ prisoners

June 20, 2019

USA: après la prison

News

North America United States

This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: French