Crises
The root cause of prison escapes
Interview
Crises
Central America and the Caribbean
Justice
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Haiti
Thousands of incarcerated people have escaped from Haitian prisons over recent months, but what sparked this trend? Roberson Édouard from the Centre for Research and Exchange on Security and Justice gives us the answer.
Crises
South America
Foreign prisoners
Torture
Violence
Venezuela
Foro Penal, a Caracas-based legal assistance group suggests that nearly 1,000 people remain behind bars for political reasons in the South American country. That number includes foreign or dual nationals from about 13 different countries.
Crises
Women
Middle East
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Torture
Violence
Work
Syria
Syrian journalist Hanin Gebran details the horrific conditions she endured in Assad’s prisons, shedding light on the gendered violence and torture faced by women journalists under the regime.
Crises
Middle East
Foreign prisoners
Health
Overcrowding
Lebanon
More than 100 syrians incarcerated in Lebanon’s central prison have begun an open-ended hunger strike demanding to be sent home to complete their trials and prison sentences.
Crises
Europe
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Ireland
The prison, which has a capacity of 296, had 372 people in custody yesterday, representing 126% capacity. It has broken its own overcrowding record, with 76 person in custody currently sleeping on mattresses on the floor due to a lack of bed space.
Crises
Middle East
Death penalty
Social ties
Iran
Two incarcerated people were executed at dawn on Thursday at Isfahan Central Prison without prior notification to their families or an opportunity for final visits.
Africa
Crises
Women
Violence
Congo - Kinshasa
Hundreds of women were raped and burned alive during the chaos after a Rwandan-backed rebel group entered the Congolese city of Goma. Women were attacked in their wing inside Goma’s Munzenze prison during a mass jailbreak, according to a senior UN official.
Crises
Europe
Mental health
Drugs
Overcrowding
Alternatives
United Kingdom
A record 58 people died in Scottish prisons in 2024. The total exceeded the previous record of 53 deaths, set in 2022, and sparked a debate over the causes.
Crises
Europe
Long-term prisoners
Mental health
Material conditions
United Kingdom
New data claims that imprisoned people and staff at Channings Wood Prison near Newton Abbot are being failed by a prison system in crisis.
Crises
Middle East
Drugs
Death penalty
Iran
Five men were executed on Wednesday in Shiraz Central Prison after being convicted of premeditated murder.
Crises
Oceania
Justice
Facilities
Overcrowding
Alternatives
Australia
Incarceration is a “common sense” policy, despite fuelling cycles of intergenerational poverty, trauma, social exclusion and criminalisation. Instead of governments racing to incarcerate, they could be investing in the social support systems that are needed to curb the prison crisis.
United States: incarcerated firefighters battle L.A. blazes while California upholds prison slavery
News
Crises
North America
Justice
Health
Alternatives
Rehabilitation
Work
United States
Last fall, California voters rejected Proposition 6, which would have brought an end to modern-day slavery in the state’s prisons. Not even three months later, more than 1,000 incarcerated Californians stood on the front lines of the fires blazing through LA, risking their lives for minuscule pay.
Crises
Minors
Middle East
Mental health
Material conditions
Violence
Iran
A teenage girl arrested this autumn for taking photos at a government event in Ahvaz spent over three weeks in detention, including 15 days in solitary confinement, IranWire has learned.
Crises
Middle East
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
Death penalty
Torture
Social ties
Syria
From the Raid Department that falls under the Military Security’s Branch 215—commonly referred to as the “Branch of Death”— Asharq Al-Awsat began its tour of the prisons of the ousted Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad.
Crises
Middle East
Death penalty
Torture
Religion
Syria
Inside Syria’s infamous prisons once controlled by Bashar al-Assad, haunting graffiti etched by tormented imprisoned people bears witness to their anguish, defiance, and love.
Crises
Middle East
Access to legal rights
Justice
Violence
Israel
Currently, around 6,800 Palestinians are being held by Israel without standard trials, according to numbers provided by the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) and Hamoked.
Crises
Middle East
Access to legal rights
Health
Suicide
Iran
A former Iranian bodybuilding champion imprisoned in Tehran’s Evin prison attempted suicide. The act of protest was in response to what he described as inadequate medical care for his deteriorating health conditions.
Crises
Asia
Access to legal rights
Health
Material conditions
Facilities
Torture
Social ties
Russia
What was once a detention centre for juveniles and women with children, Detention Centre No. 2, or SIZO-2, in Taganrog has for over two and a half years been used to detain captured Ukrainians. The facility has become notorious for inhumane conditions.
Crises
Middle East
Health
Material conditions
Torture
Violence
Iran
Mohammad Davari, a prominent labor activist, has been returned to Shiraz’s Adilabad Prison, showing visible signs of torture following a 17-day detention at the Intelligence Ministry’s “Block 100” facility, according to his attorney, Fereshteh Tabanian.