November 2025
Belarus: "worms instead of meat", female ex-political prisoners describe "nightmare' penal system"
News
Crises
Women
Europe
Mental health
Material conditions
Torture
Work
Belarus
Long considered one of Europe’s most repressive states, conditions in Belarus have become even harsher since a brutal security crackdown that followed a disputed presidential election in 2020.
United States: Los Angeles County criticized for unsafe staffing levels at reopened juvenile hall
News
North America
Minors
Material conditions
Overcrowding
United States
Court testimony reveals that youth are again urinating in bags and gloves due to inadequate overnight staffing at Barry J. Nidorf.
Wrinkles and punishment
Analysis
Inside Outside
Africa
North America
South America
Asia
Elderly prisoners
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. Eleventh piece: ageing prison population.
The shadow of colonialism (III)
Analysis
Africa
America
North America
Central America and the Caribbean
South America
Asia
Justice
Facilities
Prison Insider is dedicating a long-format, three-part article to the colonial heritage of prison systems. Part three: Prison, a registered design.
The shadow of colonialism (II)
Analysis
Africa
America
North America
Central America and the Caribbean
South America
Asia
Justice
Facilities
Prison Insider is dedicating a long-format, three-part article to the colonial heritage of prison systems. Part two: post-independence, a sense of unfinished business.
Pre-trial detention
Asia
Europe
Health
Overcrowding
Armenia
Human rights activists blamed the Armenian law-enforcement and health authorities for a near doubling of incarcerated people deaths at the country’s prisons recorded this year.
Central America and the Caribbean
Women
Access to legal rights
Drugs
Material conditions
Torture
Violence
Social ties
El Salvador
Former incarcerated people recount arbitrary arrests and months of torture, while families of current ones demand answers.
Crises
Women
Europe
Health
Material conditions
Violence
Social ties
Belarus
A former political prisoner, who was recently released, spoke about the detention conditions. She also discussed the pressure faced by political prisoners, healthcare in the penal colony, and the reason behind the disappearance of historical books from the library.
Türkiye: mother incarcerated in Gülen case with 1-year-old by her side despite law on recent mothers
News
Women
Asia
Europe
Minors
Access to legal rights
Turkey
Turkish authorities have jailed a woman accompanied by her 1-year-old infant as part of an investigation into the Gülen movement despite the fact that the law allows courts to postpone sentences for women who gave birth within the past 18 months.
North America
Health
Material conditions
Facilities
United States
A lawsuit challenging extreme heat in a Florida prison collected temperature readings during the summer. It found brutal heat persisted day and night.
Middle East
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Iran
Extended water cuts at Fashafoyeh Prison in Tehran have created several health problems for incarcerated people as the capital implements water rationing, a human rights organization reported.
Pre-trial detention
Women
Asia
LGBTQI
Overcrowding
India
More than half a million Indians are in prisons across the country, three in four of them are undertrials, of whom nearly half are aged between 18 and 30 years.
Europe
Justice
Mental health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Ireland
The State has failed to address the “degrading” conditions in which incarcerated people live in the country’s prisons and detention centres, according to an EU watchdog.
Europe
Minors
Access to legal rights
Health
Torture
Social ties
Turkey
At least 2,651 people were subjected to ill-treatment during detentions at 191 peaceful protests, including 27 children and 46 journalists, according to the Human Rights Association.
Europe
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Belgium
Bunk beds instead of single beds are being touted as the solution to prison overcrowding in Haren prison, on the outskirts of Brussels.
Crises
Central America and the Caribbean
Access to legal rights
Health
Material conditions
Torture
El Salvador
A report released by human rights groups determined that the treatment of more than 200 Venezuelan migrants imprisoned in El Salvador at the request of the U.S. amounted to arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance under international law.
Women
Europe
Mental health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Alternatives
Rehabilitation
Ireland
Mark Kelly said that problems are getting steadily worse, and Ireland is following the same pattern of “chronically overcrowded” prisons seen in England and Wales.
Elderly prisoners
Europe
Health
Mental health
Drugs
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Ireland
There were 31 deaths in custody in 2024, the highest number since the office of the Inspector of Prisons was established in 2012.