August 2025
Europe
Mental health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Work
Cyprus
Alexandros Clerides, said that the government must be held accountable for the chronic overcrowding in Cyprus’ prisons, which currently operate at 200 per cent capacity.
Women
Minors
Middle East
Health
Material conditions
Facilities
Social ties
Iran
The incident on August 18 marked the latest decline in conditions at a prison activists have long described as a “cemetery,” a place where Iran sends its most marginalized women to vanish from public life.
Pre-trial detention
Europe
Overcrowding
United Kingdom
Legislation that will include Texas-style scheme to shorten jail time expected to be rolled out this year.
North America
Justice
Health
Material conditions
Facilities
United States
Facing growing pressure from advocacy groups, lawsuits and climate projections that show hotter days ahead, some state prison systems are moving to install air conditioning and expand cooling measures — though many facilities remain years away from significant upgrades.
Central America and the Caribbean
Pre-trial detention
Overcrowding
Trinidad & Tobago
General Secretary of the Prison Officers’ Association (POA), Lester Logie, is raising an alarm over the country’s prison system, noting that nearly two-thirds of the incarcerated population is made up of remand—individuals awaiting trial who have not been convicted of any crime.
North America
Mental health
Suicide
Death penalty
United States
A man convicted of murder in Bay County who was sitting on death row has committed suicide in prison.
North America
Discipline
Mental health
United States
Menard has been on lockdown nearly every day since September 2023, according to data from the Illinois Department of Corrections. Lockdowns, according to officials, are largely the result of short staffing. On average, Menard has only been able to staff 44% of the prison so far this year.
Middle East
Foreign prisoners
Drugs
Death penalty
Iran
The death sentences of six incarcerated people previously convicted on drug-related charges were carried out in Bandar Abbas Prison.
Africa
Pre-trial detention
Overcrowding
Alternatives
Nigeria
Prison Fellowship Nigeria (PFN) has advocated the adoption of restorative justice as a critical solution to decongest correctional centres across the country.
North America
Women
Justice
Health
Facilities
United States
A group of incarcerated people at Michigan’s only women’s prison filed a class action lawsuit against the state, claiming they were exposed to toxic black mold for years.
Central America and the Caribbean
Facilities
Overcrowding
Costa Rica
Costa Rica will begin construction this year on a new maximum-security prison inspired by the El Salvador mega-prison at the center of that country’s crackdown on crime, Costa Rica’s Justice Minister Gerald Campos said.
Europe
Foreign prisoners
Overcrowding
United Kingdom
The prison population of England and Wales has jumped to the highest number in nearly a year and is nearing record levels, despite the early release of tens of thousands, official figures show.
Crises
Middle East
Violence
Social ties
Iran
Iranian authorities beat several political prisoners during the transfer of more than 600 detainees back to Evin Prison.