September 2025
North America
Justice
Violence
United States
Four prison guards pleaded guilty in the death of a black incarcerated man whose brutal beating at an upstate New York prison was captured on bodycam videos.
North America
Justice
Rehabilitation
United States
Encouraged by Trump, some lawmakers are championing cash bail, undercutting reforms that advocates say made the system fairer for poor people.
Africa
Health
Material conditions
Facilities
South Sudan
More than 50 incarcerated people at Wau Central Prison in Western Bahr el Ghazal State are suffering from skin diseases amid a growing shortage of medical supplies.
North America
Health
Material conditions
Facilities
United States
All state prison living units will, in theory, have chilled air for our triple-digit summers by 2032. Until then, we sweat.
North America
Women
Justice
Mental health
Violence
United States
Seven women filed federal lawsuits against correctional officers and internal investigators at Logan Correctional Center. Their attorney Elizabeth Payne calls the pattern of sexual abuse “an epidemic.”
Europe
Drugs
Overcrowding
Violence
United Kingdom
A report has said staffing levels at a prison are having a negative impact on incarcerated people welfare and progression.
South America
Material conditions
Protest
Overcrowding
Bolivia
Incarcerated people climbed onto the roof holding pot lids and signs, shouting slogans about hunger as they called for better conditions.
North America
Women
Health
Material conditions
United States
The Georgia Department of Corrections has started an investigation after Sheqweetta Vaughan, an incarcerated woman serving a two-year sentence at Lee Arrendale State Prison, was found dead in her single-person cell.
Africa
Access to legal rights
Drugs
Material conditions
Social ties
Nigeria
Journalist and activist Agba Jalingo has described Nigerian detention centres and prisons as hubs of extortion and illicit activities, alleging that access to basic rights in custody depends largely on money.
Crises
Middle East
Health
Material conditions
Facilities
Iran
A 21-hour power outage at Sheiban Prison left incarcerated people in critical condition during extreme heat, human rights sources reported on Thursday. Power was cut from 9 p.m. Tuesday to 6 p.m. Wednesday as temperatures in Ahvaz exceeded 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit).
Africa
Drugs
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
South Africa
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) member of Parliament (MP), Betty Diale, has called for urgent action to fix broken correctional services. According to Diale, the correctional services system is exposed to overcrowding, collapsing infrastructure, rampant gangsterism and contraband smuggling.
Asia
Health
Social ties
Tajikistan
Relatives of Abdusattor Pirmukhammadzod, a Tajik journalist, report that they have not received information about his condition for the past six months. Two months ago, they complained that they had not received any news about his health and could not meet with him in Khujand prison.
Pre-trial detention
Oceania
Mental health
Suicide
Overcrowding
Australia
Overcrowded cells break people — prison suicides linked to worsening mental illness and disrupted sleep are infrastructural failures, writes Gerry Georgatos.
United States: people in NY prison’s mental health unit kept in solitary confinement, suit says
News
North America
Mental health
Facilities
Suicide
Social ties
United States
In recent months, at least two people on the unit have attempted suicide and at least three have gone on hunger strike.