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Africa
South Africa: resonating stories
Testimonial
Africa
Access to legal rights
Material conditions
Facilities
Activities
South Africa
Five former prisoners share their experiences in South African prisons. Incarcerated for different lengths of time, at different periods and in different facilities, these diverse perspectives highlight the challenges faced by prisoners in South Africa.
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.
South Africa: eyes on the system
Interview
Africa
Health
Material conditions
Violence
South Africa
The Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services (JICS) is the oversight body responsible for supervising South Africa’s prison service. Prison Insider met with Edwin Cameron, the Inspecting Judge, and the JICS executive team to discuss prison conditions in the country.
Africa
Access to legal rights
Discipline
Material conditions
Zimbabwe
Emmerson Mnangagwa has urged prison officers to be disciplined and uphold human rights principles when handling inmates in the course of their duties.
Africa
Access to legal rights
Justice
Death penalty
Nigeria
Bodies canvassing for the abolishment of death penalty for capital offenders in the country have commenced comprehensive training for Nigerian lawyers to increase their commitment to pro bono legal services.
Africa
Pre-trial detention
Justice
Nigeria
Three years after violent suppression of nationwide #EndSARS protests against police brutality, at least fifteen protesters arrested in 2020 are still being arbitrarily detained – the majority of them without trial – in Kirikiri Medium Correctional Centre and Ikoyi Medium Security Correctional Cent…
DRC: tackling the death penalty head-on
Interview
Africa
Material conditions
Death penalty
Torture
Social ties
Congo - Kinshasa
The death penalty is still in force in the DRC. Death sentences continue to be imposed despite a de facto moratorium on executions. ACAT-DRC is performing long-running advocacy work to achieve abolition. Interview.
Africa
Women
Facilities
Rehabilitation
Zimbabwe
The Zimbabwean government in 2021 opened Marondera, its first open prison for women, giving a chance for qualified prisoners to spend time with their families while serving their sentences.
Africa
Pre-trial detention
Women
Minors
Foreign prisoners
LGBTQI
Long-term prisoners
Access to legal rights
Discipline
Justice
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Suicide
Overcrowding
Torture
Violence
Activities
Social ties
Work
Congo - Brazzaville
All there is to know about Congolese prisons in 2023. Key figures, life in detention, references: discover all the data gathered by Prison Insider.
Africa
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Zimbabwe
Former inmates of Zimbabwe’s overburdened prisons say the conditions are inhumane. Activists say government neglect and economic woes are to blame.
Central African Republic: witchcraft
Interview
Africa
Women
Justice
Torture
Central African Republic
Representations of witchcraft are very prevalent in Central African society. The penal code nevertheless criminalises certain practices of witchcraft and charlatanism. The same people are targeted over and over again: women, especially those who are older and isolated. Interview.
Kenya: left behind
Interview
Africa
Access to legal rights
Justice
Mental health
Kenya
Misunderstood and excluded by their peers, people with mental health conditions are more likely to end up in prison. Once incarcerated, their ostracization is striking. The NGO Tunawiri addresses this issue by providing training to incarcerated people and prison staff. Interview.
Africa
Material conditions
Torture
South Africa
The Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services (JICS) and the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) are at loggerheads over findings of an investigation into allegations of abuse of inmates of Indian descent jailed in Phoenix during the July 2021 unrest.
Africa
Overcrowding
Torture
Congo - Brazzaville
Overcrowded prisons, over-use of remand, cases of torture and mistreatment, horrific detention conditions: in the Congo, prisoners’ rights are barely respected. Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture (ACAT), an NGO in the Congo protecting human rights, is pushing for change. Interview…
Africa
Justice
Health
Material conditions
Ethiopia
Nigerian inmates in Kaliti prison, a maximum-security prison in Addis Abba, Ethiopia, have again called on the government to facilitate their transfer to prisons in Nigeria.
The inmates are pleading to be allowed to serve the rest of their jail terms in Nigeria. The detainees said they suffer grave…
Africa
Women
Minors
Rehabilitation
Côte d’Ivoire
Action by the Christians for the Abolition of Torture in Côte d’Ivoire (Action des chrétiens pour l’abolition de la torture en Côte d’Ivoire, ACAT CI) published a report on the incarceration of women and minors in the country. What offences land them behind bars? Interview.
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.
Republic of Congo: starting from scratch
Interview