Information, topic by topic, on prisons across the world

September 6, 2019

USA: Nebraska prison on lockdown, watchdog cites rising tensions

News

America North America United States

Nebraska’s largest prison was on lockdown Thursday so officers could comb through the facility, searching for drugs, alcohol, cellphones and weapons that officials blame for feeding a surge of violent assaults on staff members.

September 6, 2019

USA: justice for all: how Camp Grace strives to make prison safer

News

America North America United States

For an NBC News series shedding light on the nation’s criminal justice system, TODAY’s Craig Melvin travels to California’s Salinas Valley State Prison to learn about its Camp Grace program. The wives of two incarcerated men say the summer camp is offering inmates a chance at redemption.

September 4, 2019

USA: New York plan to close notorious prison clears hurdle

News

America North America United States

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

September 4, 2019

USA: let’s fight for freedom from electronic monitors and e-carceration

News

America North America United States

I spent a whole year on that monitor, devoting a lot of that e-confinement time to considering the meaning of freedom. People kept asking me, “Well it’s better than prison, isn’t it?” I laughed and told them that that was the wrong question.

September 2, 2019

USA: trans woman kept in men’s prison for a year says she was harassed and beaten

News

LGBTQI United States

A trans woman has said that the state of New Jersey knowingly kept her in men’s prisons for more than a year, where she says she was sexually harassed and beaten.

August 30, 2019

USA: how the prison economy works

News

America North America United States

When economic freedoms are taken away, informal markets will always find new and ingenious ways to satisfy demand.

August 30, 2019

USA: Woman who gave birth alone in Denver prison cell files lawsuit

News

America North America United States

Diana Sanchez can be seen crying out in agony before lying down on a narrow bed in clips of silent surveillance footage.

August 29, 2019

USA: for incarcerated workers, summer heat can be a death sentence

News

America North America United States

Abilene, Texas—Temperatures reached 97 degrees on June 21 at the French Robinson Unit prison the day Seth Donnelly collapsed.

August 27, 2019

USA : Aging in Guantánamo

News

America North America United States

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

August 23, 2019

USA: the U.S. isn't counting prison suicides even though the law requires it

News

Suicide United States

Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide shined a light on a problem in the prison system: No one is keeping track of suicide deaths on a national basis.

August 22, 2019

USA : douzième exécution depuis le début de l’année

News

America North America Death penalty United States

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

August 21, 2019

USA: Kansas’ low-staff, long-term prison deal hints at a booming future for private corrections

News

United States

On Valentine’s Day at one of Kansas’ largest state prisons, the new Democratic governor, Laura Kelly, stood before a room of corrections officers in body armor and black polos and begged them not to leave their jobs.

August 5, 2019

United States: John Oliver cites Arizona controversy as example of prison issues on HBO's "last week tonight"

News

America North America United States

In an episode centered around prison labor and reform, John Oliver focused on Arizona’s 2018 controversy surrounding feminine hygiene products for female inmates during his HBO show “Last Week Tonight.”

August 5, 2019

USA: program for children of incarcerated mothers in jeopardy after legislature ends funding

News

Social ties United States

A program serving children with mothers in prison is in jeopardy after the Oregon Legislature ended its funding.

July 31, 2019

USA: cause of death revealed for transgender woman who died at Rikers Island

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America North America LGBTQI United States

Officials said an autopsy found that a transgender woman died of complications from epilepsy in New York’s Rikers Island jail, exacerbating her family’s suspicion that jail conditions contributed to her death.

July 28, 2019

USA: these women spent years in prison.

News

Women United States

“I don’t think people understand that when they say criminal records are forever, they really are forever”

July 25, 2019

USA: the world is turning against the death penalty. Trump will resume it.

News

America North America Death penalty United States

Attorney General William Barr announced Thursday that the federal government is resuming the death penalty after nearly two decades.

July 17, 2019

USA: what should we do about our aging prison population?

News

America North America United States

Can compassionate release laws solve the problem of the nearly 200,000 people aged 55 and older who are incarcerated in America?

July 12, 2019

USA: NJ limits solitary confinement in prisons, hailed as "historic" criminal justice step

News

Discipline United States

New Jersey will limit the use of solitary confinement in correctional facilities and effectively ban it outright for certain people, including the young and elderly, pregnant women and members of the LGBTQ community.

July 9, 2019

United States: dans les prisons américaines, les nouilles lyophilisées remplacent les dollars

News

America North America United States

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

July 8, 2019

USA: a rare inside look at a private prison

News

America North America United States

Reporters found weapons, drugs, and rampant violence.

July 8, 2019

United States: what do people in solitary confinement want to see?

News

America North America Discipline United States

Willie Sterling III imagined this: a line of people, bonded by a belief in his humanity, travelling up a hill in southern Illinois to a cross that sits at its peak. The cross was Bald Knob Cross of Peace, a colossus more than a hundred feet tall. It was made of concrete and varnished with porcelain…

July 8, 2019

USA: how electronic monitoring drives defendants into debt

News

America North America Alternatives United States

Ankle bracelets are promoted as a humane alternative to jail. But private companies charge defendants hundreds of dollars a month to wear the surveillance devices. If people can’t pay, they may end up behind bars.

July 6, 2019

USA: migrant child drawings depict jail-like scenes of detention

News

United States

In one drawing, stick figures sleep on the ground under blankets watched by other figures with hats. Another picture has frowning stick figures behind what appears to be a chain-link fence. One shows two toilets in a small room. All of the drawings include imposing jail-like bars covering most of t…