Information, topic by topic, on prisons across the world

November 29, 2016

Colombia : Report Slams Colombia's Failure to Control Prison Overcrowding

News

South America Overcrowding Colombia

A report by Colombia’s Comptroller General details the state’s failure to control runaway overcrowding in prisons despite major investments, highlighting the deep-rooted issues that Latin American states consistently fail to address in reforming their crumbling penitentiary systems. The report desc…

November 17, 2016

Colombia : Sigue creciendo número de personas hacinadas en estaciones de policía

News

South America Colombia

This article is not available in English. If you wish, you can consult the Spanish version.

November 6, 2016

Venezuela : Los sobrevivientes de Franklin Masacre

News

South America Violence Venezuela

This article is not available in English. If you wish, you can consult the Spanish version

October 24, 2016

Argentina : María Eugenia Vidal removió a toda la cúpula del Servicio Penitenciario Bonaerense

News

South America Justice Argentina

Sorry, this article is not available in English. If you wish, you can consult the Spanish version.

October 18, 2016

Venezuela : actes de cannibalisme dans une prison

News

South America Venezuela

Sorry, this article is not available in English. You can consult the French version.

October 18, 2016

Brazil : mass breakout from Sao Paulo psychiatric prison

News

South America Violence Brazil

A third prison riot since Sunday night in Brazil has led to a mass escape of inmates. Fifty-five prisoners in Sao Paulo’s Franco da Rocha psychiatric ward escaped after starting a fire which burned down a wing of the prison. Despite a huge manhunt in the city’s suburb involving helicopters police w…

October 17, 2016

Brésil : affrontements dans une prison, au moins 25 morts

News

South America Violence Brazil

Sorry, this article is not available in English. If you wish, you can consult the French version.

October 17, 2016

Brazil prison clashes 'kill 25 inmates'

News

South America Violence Brazil

At least 25 inmates have been killed in clashes between two rival factions in an overcrowded prison in northern Brazil, local media report. Seven of the dead were beheaded and six others burned to death, a police official reportedly said. The incident in Boa Vista, the capital of Roraima state, hap…

October 17, 2016

Venezuela : Man 'dismembered and eaten by inmates' during Venezuela prison riot, father claims

News

South America Violence Venezuela

The prison riots reportedly began when eight visitors and two guards were taken hostage over extreme overcrowding in the jail. A father has claimed his 25-year-old son was brutally murdered and eaten by inmates during a month-long riot at a Venezuelan prison.

September 28, 2016

Venezuela : vinculan hurto de granadas con pranes de la PGV y toma militar en Guárico

News

South America Violence Venezuela

“En los medios de comunicación social dicen que nosotros somos los que nos llevamos los fusiles y granadas del cuartel, pero si se rompió la seguridad de ellos, eso no es nuestra responsabilidad. A nosotros no nos interesan esas armas”, indicó uno de los líderes de los privados de libertad en la Pe…

September 21, 2016

Venezuela : exigen investigar corrupción en la construcción de cárcel en Zulia

News

South America Venezuela

Las organizaciones Transparencia Venezuela, Observatorio Venezolano de Prisiones (OVP) y la Comisión de Derechos Humanos del Estado Zulia (Codhez) denunciaron el abandono de las obras del Centro de Reclusión de Procesados Judiciales de la entidad, a la cual el Ministerio para los Servicios Penitenc…

September 9, 2016

Uruguay : en ocho meses se alcanzó récord de presos muertos

News

South America Violence Uruguay

Treinta y un presos fueron asesinados en lo que va de 2016 en las cárceles uruguayas, y más de 70 resultaron con heridas de entidad por armas blancas y quemaduras de colchones de polifón. En los últimos cuatro días, fueron ultimadas tres personas, dos resultaron con heridas y quemaduras graves y ot…

September 5, 2016

Argentina packs prisons with drug offenders

News

South America Drugs Argentina

The number of prison inmates in Argentina convicted for drug offenses has more than doubled in a decade, a red flag for the country’s growing role in the drug trade and the risk of future prison overcrowding. The prison population sentenced on the basis of Law 23.737, Argentina’s anti-drug legislat…

August 20, 2016

Colombia : Sorry, we can't let you go on honeymoon! Amazing pictures show 17 prisoners of a tough Colombian jail get hitched in mass wedding behind bars

News

South America Colombia

A notorious high-security prison in Colombia allowed 17 of its inmates to get married yesterday to their long-term girlfriends. The mass ceremony at the Carcel Villa Hermosa prison in Cali, Colombia saw the happy couples sign up to spend the rest of their lives together, once their husbands have co…

August 20, 2016

Colombie : noce collective dans une prison

News

South America Colombia

La prison colombienne de Villahermosa a servi vendredi à la fois d’église et de salle des fêtes pour le mariage collectif de 17 détenus qui, en dépit d’être derrière les barreaux, ont décidé de s’unir à leurs fiancées.

July 30, 2016

Paraguay : un narcotrafiquant brésilien bénéficiait de largesses de l'administration

News

South America Paraguay

Trois pièces, salle de réunion, cuisine équipée et écran plasma…Alors que dans la plupart des prisons latino-américaines, à Tacumbu, des prisonniers dorment sur des cartons à même le sol, dans le froid, ce n’était pas le cas de Jarvis Chimenes Pavao.

July 13, 2016

Colombie : enquête sur 400 disparitions dans une prison de Bogota

News

South America Colombia

This article is not available in English. If you wish, you can consult the French version.

July 10, 2016

Pérou : l'une des prisons les plus hautes du monde inaugurée à 4.100m d'altitude

News

South America Peru

Une prison construite à 4 100 mètres d’altitude, où les températures peuvent descendre l’hiver jusqu’à -14 degrés. Le Pérou a ouvert samedi l’un des établissements pénitentiaires les plus hauts du monde près de Cochamarca, un village de 1 500 habitants situé à environ 200 km au nord de Lima.

June 17, 2016

Argentina : el lado más oscuro de las cárceles

News

South America Argentina

La Nación accedió en exclusiva a las imágenes de los relevamientos realizados por la Procuraduría de Violencia Institucional (Procuvin) en diferentes prisiones; cuáles fueron las principales violaciones a los Derechos Humanos detectadas

June 1, 2016

Colombia : Cárcel la Tramacúa de Valledupar, al borde del cierre

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South America Colombia

This article is not available in English. If you wish, you can consult the Spanish version.

May 31, 2016

Colombia : Ni agua para los presos de la cárcel de Valledupar

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South America Colombia

This article is not available in English. If you wish, you can consult the Spanish version.

May 14, 2016

Argentina : inmates live with rats, bats and garbage in jails

News

South America Argentina

“The nation’s prisons will be healthy and clean, since they are for security purposes and not to punish the convicts held in them”, the Argentine constitution says, but the fact is that inmates in those jails share their cells with rats, cockroaches and, according to some complaints, even bats.

May 4, 2016

Colombia : Procuraduría evidenció crisis humanitaria en cárceles de Santander

News

South America Colombia

This article is not available in English. If you wish, you can consult the Spanish version.

March 20, 2016

Venezuela : toma de rehenes en una cárcel deja 4 personas fallecidas

News

South America Venezuela

Los presos del centro penitenciario Fenix, en Venezuela, tomaron como rehenes a 18 miembros del personal penitenciario durante 4 días, para protestar contra las graves violaciones de derechos humanos que tienen que soportar. Cuatro personas fallecieron y 18 fueron heridas.