Information, topic by topic, on prisons across the world

January 27, 2021

Colombia: repair, educate, reconcile

Interview

Activities Alternatives Rehabilitation Colombia

The prison population in Latin America continues to grow. Is restorative justice a viable alternative to redress this situation?

January 6, 2021

France: victimes et coupables face à face, la justice restaurative progresse

News

Europe Justice Alternatives France

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

December 22, 2020

Pakistan: prison reform needed

News

Coronavirus Pre-trial detention Asia Access to legal rights Justice Overcrowding Social ties Alternatives Pakistan

A joint report by Amnesty International and the Justice Project Pakistan, Prisoners of the Pandemic─ The Right To Health, notes that the reduction of overcrowding in prisons during the first wave of the coronavirus epidemic was not undertaken, even the second wave was now upon us, and there was a r…

December 1, 2020

Can prisons serve to empower women?

Interview

Women Access to legal rights Justice Social ties Alternatives France

Are tougher criminal penalties the solution to ending violence against women? Gwenola Ricordeau says no.

November 30, 2020

France : journées nationales prison 2020

News

Culture Europe Alternatives France

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

November 25, 2020

Canada: why Covid-19 shows it’s time to consider prison abolition

News

Coronavirus North America Women Health Mental health Social ties Alternatives Rehabilitation Canada

It is time to recognize alternatives to incarceration and radically rethink the prison system

November 3, 2020

France: en pleine crise sanitaire, le ministre de la Justice s’inquiète de la remontée de la population carcérale

News

Europe Justice Overcrowding Alternatives France

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

October 29, 2020

France : une autre prison est possible

News

Europe Alternatives Rehabilitation France

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

October 26, 2020

France: "il y avait 33 clusters en prison au 15 octobre" contre "trois en juin", s’inquiète la nouvelle Contrôleuse générale des prisons

News

Coronavirus Europe Justice Health Overcrowding Alternatives France

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

October 16, 2020

Belgique: libérations anticipées et interruptions de peine, plus de 700 détenus sortis de prison lors de la première vague

News

Coronavirus Europe Justice Alternatives Belgium

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

September 29, 2020

France: "escaping the prison diktat"

Interview

Europe Justice Material conditions Overcrowding Activities Alternatives Rehabilitation France

The number of prisoners is increasing, short sentences are numerous, the recidivism rate is high. How can the entire prison system be rethought?

September 24, 2020

United Kingdom and United States: capital and the carceral state

News

North America Europe Material conditions Facilities Alternatives

Prison privatization

July 22, 2020

United States: Hundreds denied parole as Alabama’s COVID-19 crisis worsens

News

Coronavirus North America Justice Overcrowding Alternatives United States

White people in Alabama prisons were 2.6 times more likely to be paroled than Black people during the month of June, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).

July 22, 2020

Netherlands: A bigger market for electronic ankle monitors

News

Coronavirus North America Europe Justice Alternatives Netherlands

Corrections centers are stocking up on electronic monitors as they release prisoners due to Covid-19.

July 16, 2020

Argentina: cómo es el modelo de cárceles sin rejas que proponen aplicar en Santa Fe

News

South America Facilities Overcrowding Alternatives Rehabilitation Argentina

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

July 15, 2020

Europe: CPT urges intensifying temporary measures introduced to prevent COVID-19

News

Coronavirus Pre-trial detention Europe Health Alternatives

the CPT says that further steps are needed to reduce the use of remand detention

May 28, 2020

Lockdown is not imprisonment!

Insights

Coronavirus Discipline Justice Material conditions Alternatives France

Finally free? Two researchers discuss the parallels between lockdown and incarceration. In their opinion, comparisons with prison are misleading.

March 12, 2020

France: reintegration is everyone’s business

Analysis Interview

Europe Justice Overcrowding Alternatives Rehabilitation France

With more and more prisoners and a substantial recidivism rate, prison does not succeed in protecting society. Although reintegration is one of the missions of the prison administration, it is not considered to be of vital importance. Why?

February 28, 2020

USA: reading comes at a cost

Insights Opinion

Culture North America Justice Activities Alternatives Rehabilitation United States

At the age of seventeen, Chris Wilson is sentenced to life without parole. In prison, he formulates what he calls a “master plan”. The document sets his project for self-improvement and draws the way to changing his life. He serves 16 years before being freed. And reading books was a great deal.

February 12, 2020

France: the possibility of a conversation

Interview

Europe Justice Alternatives France

In France, restorative justice is a complementary practice to the criminal punishment for an offence. Maiana Bidegain is the codirector of Meeting my aggressor, a documentary that recounts the steps she took to meet the man who raped her when she was a child. We asked her three questions.

February 10, 2020

France: interview de Christelle Rotach, directrice de prison

News

Europe Activities Alternatives Work France

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

January 2, 2020

Zimbabwe: praised for prison term reforms

News

Africa Alternatives Zimbabwe

PRISON Fellowship International (PFI) has commended the Zimbabwean Government for adopting the community service system as an alternative to jail sentences for minor offenders.

December 9, 2019

France: “wearing the prison mark”

Interview

Europe Alternatives France

Alternative measures to prison apply to far more people than prisoners held in custodial facilities. In France, as in many Western countries, these measures are taking precedence over prison sentences. Just over 70,000 people were incarcerated at the start of 2019. At the same time, 170,000 offende…

September 6, 2019

USA: we must abolish prisons to rebuild communities fractured by mass incarceration

News

North America Alternatives United States

It is sometimes said that we can’t be what we cannot see, so are we able to imagine a world without jails and prisons? The U.S. is the world’s leader in incarceration. But how and where would we even begin to dismantle this enormous so-called prison-industrial complex, and what are the real solutio…