October 2025
Africa
Access to legal rights
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
South Africa
The Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC PF) opened a two-day consultation in Johannesburg focusing on health in prisons and the draft SADC model law on prison oversight.
Africa
Minors
Justice
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
Violence
Nigeria
A Lagos-based non-governmental organisation, Zarephath Aid (ZA), has called for urgent reforms in Nigeria’s justice sector, urging the judiciary and government agencies to go beyond speeches and take decisive steps to decongest correctional facilities, enforce child rights, and curb police excesses…
Asia
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Tajikistan
On September 24, Tajikistan’s Ombudsman, Umed Bobozoda, visited the YS 3/1 correctional facility in Vahdat to inspect the conditions under which incarcerated people are held.
Crises
Central America and the Caribbean
Torture
Violence
Cuba
Jailed Cuban dissident Jose Daniel Ferrer, the longtime leader of the island’s pro-democracy movement, announced that he had chosen to go into exile after suffering “torture” and “humiliation” in prison.
Crises
Asia
Europe
Violence
Georgia
A member of the Georgian opposition party, Gela Khasaia, has been placed in pre-trial detention on charges of intentional acts of violence. He reported degrading treatment during detention, while his supporters were forcibly removed from the court building during his hearing.
North America
Justice
Drugs
Material conditions
Facilities
Violence
United States
Amid a decade-long court battle, control of Hinds County’s Raymond Detention Center — severely understaffed and rife with violence, dysfunction and inhumane conditions — is now under the control of a court-appointed administrator.