Information, topic by topic, on prisons across the world

July 29, 2020

Russia: Incendie dans une prison pour femmes de Moscou, 850 évacuations

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Europe Discipline Facilities Russia

This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: French

June 3, 2020

Russia: le mystère de la faible propagation du coronavirus dans les prisons

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Coronavirus Europe Health Russia

This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: French

May 19, 2020

Russia: after deadly prison riot in Siberia, officials are tight-lipped as families seek information on survivors

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Coronavirus Europe Protest Violence Russia

MOSCOW – It wasn’t until two days after Russian authorities violently suppressed a riot at his prison in Siberia that Kristina Ilinova learned her husband was missing. Yevgeny Ilinov was one of 200 inmates of Corrective Colony No. 15 who mutinied on April 9 in protest of their treatment by guards a…

April 24, 2020

Russia: penitentiaries in the pandemic

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Coronavirus Europe Health Russia

Russian officials say coronavirus hasn’t infected a single inmate, but COVID-19 has undeniably changed life behind bars in big ways Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, several countries around the world have begun releasing large numbers of inmates to curb the spread of the disease behind pri…

April 23, 2020

Russia: répression féroce dans une prison de Sibérie

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Europe Protest Violence Russia

This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: French

December 18, 2019

Russia: transgender woman in Russia faces hard time in men's prison

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Asia Europe LGBTQI Russia

Michelle had no idea that the erotic anime images she posted on social media years ago could land her in an all-male prison and endanger her life.

October 3, 2019

Russia: new report offers government think-tank perspective on reforming the prison system

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Asia Europe Russia

Russia has too many prisoners — more than 543,000, the largest imprisoned population per capita in Europe. Twenty-eight percent of Russian prisoners are behind bars for drug-related crimes, more than those imprisoned for either robbery or murder. Most of those individuals are drug users, not drug d…

August 27, 2019

Russie : la CEDH condamne lourdement la Russie dans l’affaire Magnitski

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Asia Europe Russia

This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: French

August 25, 2019

Russia: 'Black Hole', prosecutors probing allegations of punitive psychiatric treatment in Siberian prison

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Asia Europe Mental health Russia

Igor Sovchuk, a prisoner at prison IK-6 in the city of Tyumen, Siberia, complained repeatedly of a headache. After being told repeatedly to shut up, the guards finally agreed to take him to the medical unit. He was given an injection and sent back to his cell.

May 27, 2019

Russia: inmate dies in Russia after being tortured in "De Facto Murder," asctivists say

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Asia Europe Torture Russia

An inmate has died in a Russian prison as a result of torture, activists have reported, in what they say was a “de facto murder.” Several leaked videos showing prisoner abuse over the past year have led to a mass outcry over torture and nationwide inspections to root out violence.

April 10, 2019

Russia: detienen las clases de yoga en las cárceles por 'crear' presos homosexuales

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Asia Europe Russia

This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: Spanish

March 11, 2019

Russia: allegations of torture in the Northern Caucasian region

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Asia Europe Torture Russia

The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) has today issued a public statement on the Russian Federation urging the Russian authorities to take decisive action to eradicate the phenomenon of ill-treatment by law enforcement…

January 7, 2019

Russia: prison guards suffer from 'moral fatigue,' officials says

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Asia Europe Russia

Amid a continuing debate about the dire conditions in Russian prisons and repeated cases of torture there, a top official from Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) says its workers are suffering from “moral fatigue” as a result of low wages and daily contacts with inmates who sometimes atta…

December 24, 2018

Russia: le directeur d'une prison suspendu après des cas de travaux forcés

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Asia Europe Russia

This article is not available in English. If you wish, you can consult the French version.

December 17, 2018

Russia: notorious 19th-century Moscow prison will be closed

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Asia Europe Russia

Russian prison officials have announced plans to close the infamous Butyrka prison in central Moscow and relocate its inmates to the city’s outskirts.

December 9, 2018

Russia: prison torture victim 'brought back to life four times'

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Asia Europe Torture Russia

Former inmate Yevgeny Makarov describes how guards choked him with a towel and poured water into his mouth to suffocate him.

December 7, 2018

Russia: inmates In far East launch hunger strike to protest prison conditions

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Asia Europe Material conditions Protest Violence Russia

Eight inmates in Russia’s Far Eastern Sakha-Yakutia region have launched a hunger strike to protest conditions at the prison where they are being held, the head of a regional human monitoring group says.

August 21, 2018

Jailed filmmaker Oleg Sentsov on day 100 of Russia hunger strike

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Asia Europe Russia

Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov on Tuesday entered day 100 of his hunger strike, as he languishes in a Russian Arctic prison on terror charges with little hope of release.

August 13, 2018

Beaten, not broken: the Russian ex-inmate covering the torture trial of former jailers

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Asia Europe Torture Russia

Ruslan Vakhapov says ‘desire for revenge in a legal way’ led him to expose brutality in prison system. He recognised all the prison guards on trial last month for the brutal torture of an inmate in a Yaroslavl prison. They used to be his jailers too.

August 13, 2018

Russie : "Oleg Sentsov est en train de mourir dans une prison parce qu'il dit des choses qui dérangent", affirme Françoise Nyssen

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Asia Europe Russia

This article is not available in English. If you wish, you can consult the French version.

August 7, 2018

Russia: widespread torture, extortion detailed in St. Petersburg prisons

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Asia Europe Torture Violence Russia

Allegations of torture in correctional facilities across Russia have gained national attention after a leaked video showed the violent beating of an inmate at a prison in Yaroslavl. A number of prison guards and wardens have since been detained and some convicted, while the Federal Prison Service v…

August 3, 2018

Russian ex-prisoners speak out over torture after leaked video

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Asia Europe Torture Russia

Alexander Zarechnev is one of a growing number of Russians to break their silence over violence and torture in Russian prisons after a widely shared video of guards beating an inmate shocked the country.

July 24, 2018

Russia: guard accused of suffocating inmate to death

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Asia Europe Russia

A prison guard in western Russia’s Bryansk region has been detained on suspicion of suffocating an inmate to death by binding his face with a piece of cloth.

July 24, 2018

Russia: rare witness to horror of Stalin's Gulag prisons dies

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Asia Europe Russia

A rare survivor of the harshest Stalin-era labour camps has died aged 89 in Russia’s far east.