September 2025
Pre-trial detention
Oceania
Access to legal rights
Justice
Health
New Zealand
New Zealand’s prisons hold about 4,500 men and women who have not been convicted of any crime. They are on remand, by law presumed innocent, awaiting trial.
Women
Europe
Mental health
Suicide
Violence
United Kingdom
The number of self-harm incidents at a women’s prison in Surrey has increased by nearly 20% in a year, a report has found. The Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) said a high turnover of incarcerated people at HMP Send had contributed to a number of “concerning trends”.
Pre-trial detention
Europe
Overcrowding
United Kingdom
The number of people in Scotland’s prisons has risen back above the level which sparked the early release of hundreds of incarcerated people to free up space.
Central America and the Caribbean
Health
Social ties
Cuba
The family of Félix Navarro complains that they cannot fully understand his health status in prison. The opposition leader, who has been imprisoned again in the Agüica prison in Matanzas since his parole was revoked last April, is ill and isolated.
United States: California sues Los Angeles County over "inhumane" conditions in its jail system
News
North America
Justice
Health
Material conditions
United States
Citing “inhumane conditions” and a “shocking rate of deaths”, Attorney General Rob Bonta on Monday announced that the state is suing Los Angeles County over conditions in its jail system.
China: draft revision to prison law review, including provisions for foreign incarcerated people
News
Asia
Foreign prisoners
Justice
Social ties
Rehabilitation
China
A draft revision to China’s Prison Law was submitted to the 17th session of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People’s Congress (NPC) for its second reading.
Europe
Facilities
Overcrowding
United Kingdom
Prisons in England reached a crisis point under the last government as “tough on crime” policies led to overcrowding after decades of structural failings and entrenched issues.
Crises
North America
Justice
Health
Material conditions
Facilities
United States
Lawyers requested swift cooling measures in a prison with no A/C. One man shares the dangerous conditions inside while people await a judge’s ruling
Pre-trial detention
Europe
Drugs
Overcrowding
Activities
Social ties
Work
United Kingdom
Staff corruption is a “major problem” at an overcrowded West London prison where over a third of incarcerated people are testing positive for illegal drugs, prison inspectors have found.
Crises
Middle East
Health
Material conditions
Torture
Violence
Israel
The petition alleged that the policy of trimming down food counts as hunger and holding incarcerated people in torturous conditions, which goes against both Israeli law and international law.
Asia
Discipline
Health
Material conditions
Torture
Violence
Social ties
Myanmar (Burma)
A recently released political incarcerated person from Hpa-An (Taung Kalay) prison revealed that 12 political imprisoned people who had asked for more nutritious food were placed in solitary confinement and tortured by prison officials. This brutal treatment resulted in the death of one of them.
North America
Elderly prisoners
Health
United States
Minnesotans in prison are growing old — fast. Nearly 1 in 5 people incarcerated in the state is over 50, a figure that’s more than tripled since 1999. The oldest is 93. Thirteen others are in their 80s.
Asia
Europe
Health
Mental health
Suicide
Torture
Social ties
Azerbaijan
There have been “suicide attempts” among incarcerated Armenian held in Azerbaijan. The suicide attempts were reported following recent phone calls between the Armenian and their relatives.
Europe
Drugs
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
Violence
Ireland
The Prison Officers Association (POA) has said the overcrowding crisis within Irish prisons has deepened even further this year. The service has published its annual report for 2024, in which it highlights the urgent need for expanded capacity amid mounting challenges that it faces.
Crises
Women
Elderly prisoners
Minors
Middle East
Access to legal rights
Social ties
Israel
Only one in four incarcerated person from Gaza are identified as fighters by Israel’s military intelligence, classified data indicates, with civilians making up the vast majority of Palestinians held without charge or trial in abusive prisons.
Africa
Access to legal rights
Social ties
Eswatini
Five men deported by the United States to Eswatini in July have been held in a maximum-security prison for seven weeks without charge or explanation and with no access to legal counsel.
Asia
Europe
Health
Mental health
Azerbaijan
Vicken Euljekjian, who was taken captive during the 44-day war in 2020, has been on a hunger strike in Baku prison for 20 days.
Africa
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Sudan
A statement from the African Center for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) laments that that the prison is currently overcrowded with poor sanitation and limited access to food, clean water, and healthcare – conditions under which diseases, particularly cholera, can run rampant.