Social ties
Middle East
Access to legal rights
Health
Material conditions
Social ties
Iran
As Iran grapples with widespread gas and electricity shortages, behind prison walls, incarcerated people face a desperate struggle against the winter cold. In northern Rasht’s Lakan Prison, 163 women huddle together, their collective breath the only source of warmth in cells left dark and freezing…
North America
Social ties
United States
This fall students in one of UW-La Crosse Professor Nicholas Bakken’s sociology classes visited New Lisbon Correctional Institution (NLCI) twice to help incarcerated people record themselves reading storybooks that were then gifted to their child or children at home.
Crises
Women
Minors
Middle East
Facilities
Death penalty
Torture
Violence
Social ties
Syria
The Syrian civil defence group known as the White Helmets says it is investigating reports from survivors of the country’s notorious Saydnaya prison that people are being detained in hidden underground cells.
Africa
North America
Central America and the Caribbean
South America
Asia
Europe
Middle East
Justice
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Torture
Violence
Activities
Social ties
How can the complexity of information on prison conditions be made accessible and used to support change? The Prison Life Index is the result of a multidisciplinary collaboration between academics and members of civil society.
United States: juvenile detention centers in North Carolina under scrutiny for use of isolation
News
North America
Minors
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Suicide
Social ties
United States
Teenagers in North Carolina’s juvenile justice system are routinely being locked alone in their rooms for as much as 23 to 24 hours a day, according to an ongoing federal lawsuit and advocates for young people in custody.
Culture
Asia
Overcrowding
Social ties
Rehabilitation
Work
India
While India has made strides in prison reforms, education for prisoners remains an area with significant potential. The National Policy on Prison Reforms 2017 emphasizes the importance of education and skill development within prisons.
Culture
North America
Material conditions
Facilities
Social ties
United States
Danish architecture studio Schmidt Hammer Lassen and American studio DLR Group have been selected to redesign California’s San Quentin State Prison into a rehabilitation centre that will utilise influences from the Scandinavian incarceration system.
Europe
Activities
Social ties
Rehabilitation
United Kingdom
At HMP Prescoed, an open prison in south-east Wales, imprisoned people are working at Cilgwri Farm, a fully functioning dairy operation. Here, they help manage a large herd of dairy cows and their calves.
Crises
Minors
Middle East
Access to legal rights
Health
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
Torture
Violence
Social ties
Israel
Thousands of Palestinians are currently deprived of their liberty by the Israeli authorities, a figure that has risen sharply in the last year. What is the current situation? Answers from the Palestinian association Addameer.
Crises
Middle East
Health
Mental health
Protest
Social ties
Iran
Three women political prisoners in Tehran’s Evin prison have gone on hunger and medicine strikes to protest their conditions and treatment.
Central America and the Caribbean
Health
Material conditions
Torture
Violence
Social ties
Nicaragua
“It was an ordeal I thought would never end,” says one of the 135 political prisoners exiled on September 5th to Guatemala by the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo. Former prisoners confirm physical and psychological torture.
Morocco: archaic sentencing
Interview
Africa
Justice
Mental health
Death penalty
Social ties
Morocco
Morocco has just celebrated 30 years of its death penalty moratorium, yet its courts continue to hand down death penalties. Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM), along with its partners, conducted a new fact-finding mission on the impact of the death penalty in Moroccan prisons. Interview.
North America
Material conditions
Social ties
United States
Connecticut families brought an end to expensive prison communication, providing a lifeline for the voices behind bars. But consistent contact still isn’t guaranteed.
Europe
Access to legal rights
Justice
Health
Protest
Overcrowding
Social ties
Turkey
The “2022-2023 Prison Rights Violations Report” highlights systemic human rights abuses in Turkish prisons, revealing a disturbing trend of political repression and isolation practices, particularly concerning the treatment of political prisoners, including Abdullah Öcalan.
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.
Côte d'Ivoire: prisons in 2025
Analysis
Africa
Pre-trial detention
Women
Minors
Foreign prisoners
LGBTQI
Long-term prisoners
Mental health
Material conditions
Facilities
Suicide
Torture
Activities
Social ties
Alternatives
Work
Côte d’Ivoire
This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: French
Türkiye: lawyers in danger
Interview
Europe
Access to legal rights
Justice
Social ties
Turkey
The Anti-Terror Law is used by the State to imprison lawyers who defend opponents. The Progressive Lawyers Association (ÇHD) has been specifically targeted on several occasions. One of its members, Güçlü Sevimli, explains why and under what conditions they are being held.
North America
Activities
Social ties
United States
There is growing recognition among prison leaders that children are also affected by incarceration. Some prisons are looking for ways to build and maintain family ties during incarceration.
North America
Access to legal rights
Social ties
United States
A pair of lawsuits filed this month claim that two county jails in Michigan banned in-person family visits for inmates several years ago as a way to boost county revenues from the increased number of phone calls and electronic messaging that resulted.
Women
Europe
Justice
Health
Social ties
United Kingdom
Pregnant women are now less likely to be sent to prison under new guidelines which will force courts to consider how jail time affects a woman who is either due to give birth or has recently had a baby.
Africa
Access to legal rights
Justice
Social ties
Kenya
Prisoners held in custody have been granted the right to attend the funerals of their close family members, unless compelling reasons dictate otherwise. The ruling was made in a case by former journalist Moses Dola, who is serving a 10-year prison sentence since 2018.
Far from loved ones
Inside Outside
Africa
North America
South America
Asia
Europe
Middle East
Social ties
Prison Insider, represented by Clara Grisot, contributed twelve compositions to the book InsideOutside to articulate, in a few words, the current challenges of prison life. Second piece: maintaining bonds.
Europe
Material conditions
Social ties
United Kingdom
According to the Prison Service, all 92 closed public-sector prisons in England and Wales will be fully fitted with phones by February 24.