September 2025
Crises
Europe
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Belgium
Staff and management at all Belgian prisons will protest against overcrowding in front of prison buildings. “The prison crisis is unprecedented, and prisons are crying out for help,” said the prison administration.
Crises
Women
Middle East
Health
Material conditions
Social ties
Iran
Political prisoner Mehdi Farahi began a hunger strike to protest the death of a female political prisoner and conditions for women at Qarchak Prison.
North America
Elderly prisoners
Health
Facilities
United States
United States prison population is growing older at a pace that some experts say is unsustainable.
Africa
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
South Sudan
State lawmakers in Western Equatoria visited Yambio Central Prison, urging immediate government action to address what they described as severe overcrowding, critical shortages of food and medicine, and inadequate conditions for incarcerated people with infectious diseases.
United States: as prisons deal with heat waves, climate crisis makes abolition even more urgent
News
North America
Material conditions
Facilities
Social ties
United States
While the planet continues to warm, conditions in prisons, and specifically in solitary confinement, continue to worsen.
United Kingdom: women's prison in South Gloucestershire has "worst rate of violence against staff"
News
Women
Europe
Mental health
Violence
United Kingdom
HMP Eastwood Park has the worst rate of violence against staff of any women’s prison in the country, a new report has found. Officials visited the prison in South Gloucestershire for a surprise inspection in June and July, with attacks on staff raised as one area of concern.
Crises
North America
Justice
Social ties
United States
Staffing shortages at New York prisons have worsened, morale among guards remains low and the lives of incarcerated people are still disrupted six months after a wildcat prison strike ended.
North America
Women
Health
United States
It truly is a man’s world, even in a women’s prison. In an environment where nothing is private, even the most basic aspects of personal care become luxuries. For incarcerated women, managing a menstrual cycle is not just a routine part of life — it is often a monumental struggle.
Guantánamo: what torture does to people
Testimonial
North America
Justice
Death penalty
Torture
United States
Mohamedou Ould Slahi spent 14 years in Guantánamo, enduring torture, humiliation and degrading treatment. He came to share his story at Concertina alongside Sylvain Savolainen, a lawyer who became his friend.
Africa
Justice
Health
Material conditions
Ethiopia
A cross section of Nigerians whose relatives are in Kaliti Prison, Ethiopia, have appealed to the Federal Government to intervene to secure the release or transfer of their loved ones.
Crises
South America
Women
Minors
Health
Torture
Violence
Venezuela
The United Nations released a report exposing Venezuela’s deepening rights abuses. Authorities hold 823 political prisoners, including about 100 women and nearly 90 foreign nationals.
Hostile territory
Analysis
Inside Outside
Africa
Crises
North America
South America
Asia
Europe
Middle East
Prison Insider, represented by Clara Grisot, contributed twelve compositions to the book InsideOutside to articulate, in a few words, the current challenges of prison life. Tenth piece: the climate challenge.
The shadow of colonialism (I)
Analysis
Thematic paper
Africa
America
North America
Central America and the Caribbean
South America
Asia
Justice
Prison Insider is dedicating a long-format, three-part article to the colonial heritage of prison systems. Part one: the origin of a system.
North America
Women
Material conditions
Overcrowding
United States
With Vermont’s prisons reaching capacities they haven’t hit since the onset of COVID-19, Vermont Department of Corrections officials are grappling with how to handle the influx of people incarcerated.