Information, topic by topic, on prisons across the world

September 4, 2019

Turkey: fourteen inmates died due to epidemic in İzmir prison

News

Europe Turkey

MP Sertel has submitted a parliamentary question regarding the claims that fourteen inmates died in eight months in an overcrowded prison for seriously ill people.

September 4, 2019

Mexico: el fin de Topo Chico, la tenebrosa y violenta prisión cerrará sus puertas

News

Central America and the Caribbean Violence Mexico

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

September 4, 2019

USA: let’s fight for freedom from electronic monitors and e-carceration

News

North America United States

I spent a whole year on that monitor, devoting a lot of that e-confinement time to considering the meaning of freedom. People kept asking me, “Well it’s better than prison, isn’t it?” I laughed and told them that that was the wrong question.

September 3, 2019

UK: Big rise in assault and self-harm incidents at Highpoint Prison prompts call for the number of people in prison to be reduced

News

Suicide United Kingdom

Incidents of assault and self harm at Highpoint prison have risen in recent years, amid warnings that England and Wales’ prisons have been asked “to do too much with too little for too long”.

September 3, 2019

UK: full Sutton prison inmates handed hundreds of extra days behind bars for breaking rules

News

United Kingdom

Full Sutton Prison inmates were handed hundreds of extra days behind bars for breaking rules last year, new figures reveal.

September 3, 2019

Nigeria: group lauds president for signing prison reform bill into law

News

Africa Nigeria

Says it will reform Nigerian Prisons for better.

September 3, 2019

Pakistan: efforts being made to shift Karachi central prison, PA told

News

Asia Pakistan

KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly was told on Monday that the provincial government was making efforts to shift the Karachi central prison from the centre of the city.

September 3, 2019

UK: Haverigg prison to become "open prison" and double in size

News

Facilities United Kingdom

HMP Haverigg is set to double in size after becoming an open prison, Ministry of Justice bosses have announced.

September 2, 2019

Venezuela: el horror detrás de las rejas, un diagnóstico sobre la situación carcelaria en el país

News

South America Venezuela

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

September 2, 2019

USA: trans woman kept in men’s prison for a year says she was harassed and beaten

News

LGBTQI United States

A trans woman has said that the state of New Jersey knowingly kept her in men’s prisons for more than a year, where she says she was sexually harassed and beaten.

September 1, 2019

Yemen: saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen kill more than 60 in prison, rebels say

News

Middle East Yemen

Airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen hit a university used as a detention center in a southwestern province on Sunday, killing at least 60 people, officials and the rebels’ health ministry said.

August 31, 2019

République Centrafricaine: surpopulation et manque de moyens chroniques à la principale prison de Bangui

News

Overcrowding Central African Republic

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

August 30, 2019

USA: how the prison economy works

News

North America United States

When economic freedoms are taken away, informal markets will always find new and ingenious ways to satisfy demand.

August 30, 2019

USA: Woman who gave birth alone in Denver prison cell files lawsuit

News

North America United States

Diana Sanchez can be seen crying out in agony before lying down on a narrow bed in clips of silent surveillance footage.

August 30, 2019

Iran: prisoners in Iran’s Gharchak prison for women protest inhumane living conditions

News

Women Middle East Material conditions Torture Iran

Two hundred inmates in Ward 5 of Gharchak Prison for women in the Iranian city of Varamin have sent an open letter to the head of the State Prisons Organization in Tehran Province protesting the prison’s inhumane living conditions.

August 29, 2019

USA: for incarcerated workers, summer heat can be a death sentence

News

North America United States

Abilene, Texas—Temperatures reached 97 degrees on June 21 at the French Robinson Unit prison the day Seth Donnelly collapsed.

August 29, 2019

UK: forecast fall in prison numbers not "green light" for government justice reforms

News

Europe United Kingdom

A projected drop in the prison population is “no justification” for an “unevidenced ‘tough on crime’ policy” from the Government, campaigners have said. The comments came as the number of people behind bars was forecast to drop in the next five years.

August 29, 2019

UK: Portland prison had 'unbearable smell of dead rats'

News

Europe United Kingdom

The smell of dead rats made working conditions at a prison “unbearable”, a report has said.

August 27, 2019

Malta: changes to prison reform are slow to happen

News

Malta

Over the past weeks we’ve seen major changes done to Corradino Correctional Facility with regards to visitation rights and conjugal visits, but how much do we really know about the basic functions of a prison? Jeremy Micallef speaks with Senior Lecturer in the Department of Criminology Dr Sandra Sc…

August 27, 2019

Russie : la CEDH condamne lourdement la Russie dans l’affaire Magnitski

News

Asia Europe Russia

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

August 27, 2019

USA : Aging in Guantánamo

News

North America United States

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

August 27, 2019

Mauritania: ordinary detention

Testimonial

Africa Mauritania

Mohamed faces a police check. He is arrested and placed in custody for lack of proper documentation. He spends one week there. He tells his story.

August 26, 2019

Colombia: ultimátum a cárcel de mujeres en San Diego que está en riesgo de desplomarse

News

South America Colombia

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

August 25, 2019

Iran: family of murdered iranian prisoner demands prison officials be put on trial

News

Middle East Iran

The murder prompted protests and calls on social media for judiciary reform, citing the department’s incompetence.