Information, topic by topic, on prisons across the world

March 11, 2020

El Salvador: la emergencia nacional en las cárceles

News

Central America and the Caribbean Access to legal rights Justice Violence El Salvador

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

March 11, 2020

Spain: machismo en el sistema penitenciario y la triple condena que sufren las mujeres en las cárceles españolas

News

Women Europe Spain

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

March 9, 2020

UK: 'our prison deradicalisation programmes aren't working'

News

Europe Discipline Justice Religion United Kingdom

The British prison system currently deals with high-security terrorism convicts by sending them to dispersal prisons. These prisoners are distributed around six maximum security dispersal jails and are regularly moved from one to another. This is done to prevent them from establishing close relatio…

March 9, 2020

Australia: WA's overcrowded prison system is a 'ticking time bomb'

News

Oceania Overcrowding Australia

A former inmate describes conditions inside the prison system as a “ticking time bomb”, with staff and prisoners under increasing stress

March 6, 2020

USA: Texas bans greeting cards in prison

News

North America Activities United States

Every February 9, Joseph Mallonee sends his mother a handmade birthday card, with pastel hearts and roses sketched inside a Texas prison. Three weeks later, his mother returns the favor, buying a card or two from the local dollar store and mailing it to Huntsville in time for her son’s February 20…

March 5, 2020

USA: el confinamiento en solitario prolongado en las cárceles equivale a tortura psicológica

News

North America Discipline Health Mental health Torture United States

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

March 5, 2020

France: les détenus de la prison de Bois-d’Arcy lancent leur propre chaîne de télé

News

Culture Europe Activities Rehabilitation France

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

March 5, 2020

France: assesseurs extérieurs en prison

News

Europe Justice France

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

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 27, 2020

USA: construction, welding, GED: the impact of prison education

News

North America Activities United States

On a typical school day, the carpentry workshop at Ingram State Technical College is buzzing with activity. Men in white prison uniforms chisel, saw and paint, transforming raw wood into decorative tables, chairs and art. Instructor Eddie Lucas watches from the front of the room.

February 27, 2020

China: prison virus loopholes sound alarm to society

News

Coronavirus Asia Health China

On Friday, a prison in Rencheng, Shandong Province, reported 200 new cases of novel coronavirus infection. Another 27 were reported in Shilifeng prison in Zhejiang Province. These new cases added to a sudden uptick in the nation’s overall number of infected cases, which shouldn’t have happened at a…

February 27, 2020

UK: women released from prison nearly three times less likely to be in employment on release than men

News

Women Europe Rehabilitation United Kingdom

A new briefing, Working It Out, published today by the Prison Reform Trust and Working Chance, reveals that fewer than one in 20 women (4%) were in employment six weeks after release from prison, compared with over one in 10 men (11%).

February 27, 2020

Australia: do people in prison matter less in an emergency than those who are free?

News

Oceania Australia

There is one image from the bushfire crisis that I am still not able to shake. It has led to night terrors where I wake in a sweat, feeling embers on my face and a desperate need to walk outside and look at the sky.

February 27, 2020

South Africa: prisons are the 'worst places', offer 'no rehab', says fees must fall activist Kanya Cekeshe

News

Africa Rehabilitation South Africa

But Fees Must Fall activist Kanya Cekeshe says he hopes to empower prisoners and help them gain more rights.

February 27, 2020

USA: deaths in state prisons are on the rise, new data shows. What can be done?

News

North America Health United States

A new Bureau of Justice Statistics report released yesterday shows that from 2015 to 2016, the number of deaths in U.S. state prisons increased from 296 to 303 per 100,000 people. What accounts for these deaths?

February 27, 2020

UK: psychoactive drugs linked to 95% of jail's ambulance callouts

News

Europe Health Drugs United Kingdom

Paramedics were called 200 times in six months to a prison in West Yorkshire to deal with medical incidents linked to drugs like spice, an inspection has revealed.

February 27, 2020

USA: new BJS report reveals staggering number of preventable deaths in local jails

News

North America Health Suicide United States

A new Bureau of Justice Statistics report reveals that over 1,000 people died in local jails in 2016, underscoring the dangers of jail incarceration. Most troublingly, the report finds at least half of these deaths are preventable, with suicide remaining the leading cause of death.

February 27, 2020

USA: public universities, prison-made furniture

News

North America Work United States

Office furniture at the University of Virginia is made in prisons. So is some of the furniture at George Mason University and the University of Mary Washington.

February 27, 2020

USA: proposals to ease post-prison transitions en route to lawmakers this session

News

North America Justice Rehabilitation United States

Members of a task force studying how people’s criminal records negatively impact their lives after prison have produced dozens of recommendations for mitigating this harm, including remedies for housing and employment discrimination.

February 27, 2020

USA: pretrial detainees to vote at first polling place in Cook County Jail

News

North America Access to legal rights Justice United States

42 voting machines will be brought in during the first two weekends in March — marking the first time in the country a polling place will be available for pretrial detainees.

February 27, 2020

USA: bill to restore felons' voting rights dies on the floor of the Washington senate

News

North America Access to legal rights Justice United States

Legislation to automatically restore the voting rights of convicted felons when they are released from prison has died unexpectedly in the Washington state Senate Wednesday.

February 27, 2020

USA: more than 60,000 Missourians on probation or parole can’t vote

News

North America Access to legal rights Justice United States

When Missouri holds its presidential primaries next month, more than 63,000 residents will be barred from participating because they’ve been convicted of a felony and are serving a sentence on probation and parole.

February 26, 2020

Ecuador: tensión por ahorcamiento de seis presos en la cárcel de Turi en Cuenca

News

South America Violence Ecuador

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

February 26, 2020

Guatemala: el presidente Giammattei realizará cambios en las cárceles

News

Central America and the Caribbean Justice Guatemala

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