June 2021
Australia: Ageing prisoners
Analysis
Opinion
Coronavirus
Elderly prisoners
Oceania
Health
Alternatives
Australia
ICPR and Prison Insider asked several experts worldwide to share their insights in the framework of the project ‘Understanding and reducing the use of imprisonment in 10 countries’. Natasha Ginnivan discusses the ageing prison population in Australia.
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Coronavirus
Europe
Protest
Torture
Italy
Italian police on Monday arrested 52 prison officers on suspicion of mistreating prisoners in quelling a riot sparked by a case of COVID-19 among inmates in the middle of the first virus lockdown last year.
Naples police sent in special penitentiary police forces after the April 6 riot at the jail…
Source — ANSA
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Women
Middle East
Violence
Saudi Arabia
It now appears that all the women’s rights activists detained in the 2018 sweep have now been released from prison, although the status of one woman remains unclear.The women had been sentenced to five years imprisonment, two of which were suspended.
They had been vocal critics of Saudi Arabia’s m…
Source — AP News
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Oceania
Health
Drugs
New Zealand
Corrections cut its AOD (Alcohol and Other Drug) Brief Support Programme and its AOD Intermediate Treatment Programme in 2018, which has seen a massive drop in the number of prisoners receiving treatment. Corrections continue to offer drug treatment programmes ranging from three to 12 months long,…
Source — RNZ
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United States: addressing the structural inequalities underlying a failing prison health system
Analysis
Opinion
North America
Mental health
Drugs
Material conditions
Suicide
United States
ICPR and Prison Insider asked several experts worldwide to share their insights in the framework of the project ‘Understanding and reducing the use of imprisonment in 10 countries’. Homer Venters is a physician and epidemiologist working at the intersection of incarceration, health and human rights…
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Côte d'Ivoire : l'ancien-Premier ministre Guillaume Soro condamné à la perpétuité
News
Africa
Long-term prisoners
Justice
Côte d’Ivoire
This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: French
Coronavirus
South America
Social ties
Brazil
ICPR and Prison Insider asked several experts worldwide to share their insights in the framework of the project ‘Understanding and reducing the use of imprisonment in 10 countries’. Maria Teresa dos Santos is the chair of the Associação de Amigos e Familiares de Pessoas em Privação de Liberdade (As…
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North America
Pre-trial detention
Foreign prisoners
Access to legal rights
Justice
Violence
Canada
Canada incarcerates thousands of people, including those with disabilities, on immigration-related grounds every year in often abusive conditions, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said today in a joint report ahead of World Refugee Day on June 20.
The 100-page report, “I Didn’t Feel Lik…
Source — Human rights watch
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Africa
Pre-trial detention
Minors
Activities
Rehabilitation
South Africa
The Judicial Inspectorate Correctional Services (Jics) issued statistics stating that as of May 31, there were 55 children in remand detention, 3 105 juveniles awaiting trial, 42 children sentenced and 1 503 juveniles sentenced. Jics spokesperson Emerantia Cupido said between 2019 and 2020 there we…
Source — IOL
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Africa
Women
Minors
Material conditions
Social ties
Kenya
Of particular note are the children who accompany their mothers to prison. According to the Kenyan constitution, Persons Deprived of Liberty Act (2014), mothers in prison are allowed to have their children accompany them until they attain the age of 4 years. While the constitution has done well to…
Source — Standard media
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Coronavirus
South America
Overcrowding
Brazil
ICPR and Prison Insider asked several experts worldwide to share their insights in the framework of the project ‘Understanding and reducing the use of imprisonment in 10 countries’. Patrick Cacicedo is a Public Defender based in São Paulo.Patrick holds a PhD from the University of São Paulo (USP),…
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Africa: informal governance and healthcare access in prison
Analysis
Opinion
Africa
Discipline
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
ICPR and Prison Insider asked several experts worldwide to share their insights in the framework of the project ‘Understanding and reducing the use of imprisonment in 10 countries’. Carole Berrih, a lawyer specialising in public law, focuses on the role of prisoners in the maintenance of order in N…
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Africa: health beyond epidemics
Analysis
Opinion
Africa
Coronavirus
Health
Material conditions
ICPR and Prison Insider asked several experts worldwide to share their insights in the framework of the project ‘Understanding and reducing the use of imprisonment in 10 countries’. Frédéric Le Marcis focuses on epidemic responses in prison environment in different African countries.
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Madagascar : The right to health must not be "forgotten behind bars"
Analysis
Opinion
Access to legal rights
Health
Mental health
Overcrowding
Madagascar
ICPR and Prison Insider asked several experts worldwide to share their insights in the framework of the project ‘Understanding and reducing the use of imprisonment in 10 countries’. Tamara Léger draws on her previous research experience to highlight the severe impact of prison overcrowding on healt…
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Pre-trial detention
Asia
Material conditions
Protest
Torture
Myanmar (Burma)
Family members of seven detainees in Yangon’s notorious Insein Prison say that they are being mistreated by prison authorities for not complying with orders. The seven prisoners—five student activists and two freelance journalists—had been locked up together since their arrest in late February and…
Source — Myanmar now
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Culture
Justice
Mental health
Material conditions
Netherlands
ICPR and Prison Insider asked several experts worldwide to share their insights in the framework of the project ‘Understanding and reducing the use of imprisonment in 10 countries’. Michiel van de Wolf discusses the Dutch approach for dealing with those considered as mentally disordered offenders.
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Asia
Health
Material conditions
Torture
China
Lü’s health has deteriorated while in prison, according to a report by the Chinese human rights news website Minsheng Guancha (Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch) and the journalist’s wife, Wang Xue’e, who told CPJ in a phone interview that, during a prison visit on May 22, he looked fragile and had…
Source — IFEX
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Thailand: the overcriminalization of meth, a failed moral crusade
Analysis
Opinion
Asia
Long-term prisoners
Drugs
Overcrowding
Thailand
ICPR and Prison Insider asked several experts worldwide to share their insights in the framework of the project ‘Understanding and reducing the use of imprisonment in 10 countries’. Pascal Tanguay discusses the overcriminalization of meth-related crimes in Thailand and its consequences.
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United States: there’s an aging crisis in New York’s prisons and we need to solve it
Analysis
Opinion
North America
Elderly prisoners
Long-term prisoners
Access to legal rights
Health
United States
ICPR and Prison Insider asked several experts worldwide to share their insights in the framework of the project ‘Understanding and reducing the use of imprisonment in 10 countries’. Rodney Holcombe, New York State Director for Criminal Justice Reform, addresses the New York prison system and the it…
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United States: surge in life sentences
Analysis
Opinion
North America
Long-term prisoners
Justice
Death penalty
United States
Ashley Nellis, Ph.D. is a Senior Research Analyst at the Washington DC-based NGO, The Sentencing Project, which has been active in the struggle to reform American law and practice on life sentences. Here, Ashley discusses America’s now commonplace use of life sentences and calls for bolder approach…
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Europe
Long-term prisoners
Justice
Overcrowding
Social ties
Rehabilitation
United Kingdom
ICPR and Prison Insider asked several experts worldwide to share their insights in the framework of the project ‘Understanding and reducing the use of imprisonment in 10 countries’. Helen Mills discusses the vexed problem of short prison sentences.
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Africa: a regional campaign to decriminalise petty offences
Analysis
Opinion
Africa
Access to legal rights
Justice
Overcrowding
ICPR and Prison Insider asked several experts worldwide to share their insights in the framework of the project ‘Understanding and reducing the use of imprisonment in 10 countries’. Louise Edwards reflects on the works and challenges of the regional campaign to decriminalise petty offences.
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Life imprisonment: a sentence in dire need of reform
Analysis
Opinion
Africa
Elderly prisoners
Asia
Europe
Long-term prisoners
Oceania
Justice
Health
Mental health
Drugs
Overcrowding
ICPR and Prison Insider asked several experts worldwide to share their insights in the framework of the project ‘Understanding and reducing the use of imprisonment in 10 countries’. In this piece, Olivia Rope, Executive Director of Penal Reform International (PRI), discusses life sentences, a key p…
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Considering penal abolitionism
Interview
North America
Europe
Discipline
Justice
Alternatives
The abolitionist movement is not well-known in France. Three texts, recently translated into French, have been assembled into one book on the subject.
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