Information, topic by topic, on prisons across the world

June 16, 2019

Bangladesh: prison breakfast changes after 200 years

News

Asia Bangladesh

Bangladesh authorities have upgraded a 200-year-old colonial-era breakfast menu in all its prisons, an official said Sunday, as part of a reform of the country’s penal system.

June 15, 2019

France: Une prison d'un nouveau genre verra le jour à Orléans en 2022 dans le quartier des Groues

News

Europe France

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

June 14, 2019

Mauritanie: un rapport sur la peine de mort apporte un éclairage sur les limites de la justice dans ce pays

News

Africa Death penalty Violence Mauritania

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

June 13, 2019

United States: 300 inmates in Texas' Harris County jail are quarantined over a mumps outbreak

News

North America United States

A mumps outbreak at the Harris County jail in Houston has forced staff to isolate 14 symptomatic people and quarantine a few hundred other inmates, officials said Thursday.

June 13, 2019

Australia: Canberra's prison applied dress standards to visitors which could breach the Discrimination Act

News

Oceania Social ties Australia

The ACT Human Rights Commission is seeking clarification about the dress standards imposed on visitors at Canberra’s jail which included a ban on swimsuits, tight-fitting clothing and skirts shorter than mid-thigh.

June 13, 2019

Belarus: un prisonnier condamné à mort exécuté

News

Europe Death penalty Violence Belarus

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

June 12, 2019

India: Amnesty International highlights human rights violations in Indian-occupied Kashmir

News

Asia India

The Amnesty International said on Wednesday that the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act (PSA) circumvents the criminal justice system in the Indian-occupied Kashmir to undermine accountability, transparency and respect for human rights. The briefing, “Tyranny of A ‘Lawless Law’: Detention without…

June 12, 2019

France: Condé-sur-Sarthe, une prison sous haute tension

News

Europe France

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

June 12, 2019

Uruguay: una cárcel simula un pueblo para recuperar presos

News

South America Uruguay

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

June 12, 2019

United States: San Francisco announces plan to stop charging jail inmates for phone calls

News

North America Social ties United States

San Francisco Mayor London Breed and Sheriff Vicki Hennessy on Wednesday announced plans to stop charging inmates to make phone calls from jail and to eliminate the county’s markups on items sold at the jail commissary.

June 12, 2019

Spain: el rugby entrará en las cárceles catalanas como herramienta socializadora

News

Europe Spain

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

June 12, 2019

Argentina: la sobrepoblación pone en riesgo a las cárceles

News

South America Overcrowding Argentina

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

June 11, 2019

Switzerland: des élus vaudois veulent améliorer les conditions des femmes en prison

News

Women Europe Material conditions Switzerland

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

June 11, 2019

Tajikistan: Submission to UN Human Rights Committee's Review

News

Justice Tajikistan

This memorandum provides an overview of Human Rights Watch’s main concerns with respect to the human rights situation in Tajikistan, submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Committee (“the Committee”) in advance of its pre-sessional review of Tajikistan in July 2019. We hope it will inform the…

June 11, 2019

Malaysia: abuse, collusion and obstruction: Malaysia’s prison problems

News

Asia Malaysia

Ahnbhalagan Muthu died in prison in Penang last month. His wife claims he was severely beaten shortly before his death. His is the latest in a series of tragic cases highlighting issues with Malaysia’s prisons.

June 11, 2019

United States: after a transgender woman’s death at Rikers, calls for justice and answers

News

North America LGBTQI United States

In April, Layleen Polanco, a transgender woman, was arrested on misdemeanor assault charges and sent to the Rikers Island jail complex because she could not afford to pay a $500 bail. Nearly two months later, she was found dead in her cell.

June 10, 2019

Time — 1/12

Inside Outside

North America South America Women Asia Europe Long-term prisoners

Each month, the photographer Bertrand Gaudillère creates an image or chooses one from his archives. Prison Insider sends it to a dozen participants, prisoners around the world. They are in Argentina, in the United States of America, in France, in Switzerland, in Guatemala, in Ukraine, in Colombia…

June 9, 2019

Canada: un premier centre d'injection supervisée dans une prison canadienne

News

North America Drugs Canada

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

June 7, 2019

Libya: l'ONU dénonce les conditions de détention «épouvantables» des migrants

News

Africa Material conditions Libya

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

June 7, 2019

He was arrested at 13. Now Saudi Arabia wants to execute him

News

Middle East Death penalty Violence Saudi Arabia

As a boy, Qureiris participated in demonstrations like this bike ride, expressions of dissent in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province during the 2011 Arab Spring. Three years after he was filmed taking part in the bike protest, Saudi authorities arrested Qureiris, then just 13 years old. He was travelin…

June 7, 2019

France: opéré dans la prison d’Angers, l’ancien détenu obtient une réparation décevante

News

Europe France

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

June 6, 2019

Equator: infraestructura y reformas del periodo correísta agravaron crisis carcelaria

News

Central America and the Caribbean Ecuador

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

June 6, 2019

United States: what it’s like to spend half a life in solitary confinement?

News

North America Discipline United States

Tony Medina has spent two decades in a concrete box in Texas, alone.

June 6, 2019

United States: district of Columbia could restore voting rights to felons in prison

News

North America United States

The nation’s capital is set to consider legislation that would let people with felony convictions vote while in prison.