Information, topic by topic, on prisons across the world

November 17, 2016

USA : 'I can’t keep my brother out of jail, and that hurts'

News

United States

Kings realized that such shared pain was no coincidence: her community had been targeted. “I knew I had a brother in jail, but I never thought about mass incarceration as systemic and how that had not just impacted me, but impacted millions of people,” King says. “Why were there drug-sniffing dogs…

November 15, 2016

USA : in prison, but still a big sister

News

United States

“I’m not going to discuss how I ended up in the criminal-justice system,” Lettisha Boyd tells me.“I did end up there—I guess that’s the biggest thing.” Boyd, now 41, was sent to a prison in New York state more than two decades ago for a felony conviction received one month before her 19th birthday.…

November 14, 2016

États-Unis : 44 ans isolés en prison, Donald Trump en sortant

News

United States

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

November 14, 2016

USA : brothers behind bars

News

United States

What happens when the only life you’ve known has been in an institution? “The only photograph I had of her, growing up, is from a scrapbook from a social worker,” Shelton McElroy says about his mother, “from a visitation that we had at a women’s prison called Pewee Valley.” Shelton and his two brot…

November 14, 2016

USA : when a sibling goes to prison

News

United States

Over 5 million kids in the United States currently have or have had a parent in prison. That works out to about one in 14 American children—a majority of whom are under age 10. Broken down by state, children with incarcerated parents can represent 3 to 13 percent of the population, according to “A…

November 12, 2016

USA : where even nightmares are classified, psychiatric care at Guantánamo

News

Health Mental health Violence United States

Secrecy, mistrust and the shadow of interrogation at the American prison limited doctors’ ability to treat mental illness among detainees. Dr. Rosecrans, now retired from the Navy, led one of the mental health teams assigned to care for detainees at the island prison over the past 15 years. Some pr…

November 11, 2016

USA : here’s what N.C. won’t tell you about inmates in solitary confinement

News

Discipline United States

In North Carolina’s prisons, about half a dozen inmates have been in solitary confinement for more than a decade. But the state doesn’t want you to know who they are. State officials say they’ve been working to reduce their use of the punishment as awareness grows about the dangerous psychological…

November 10, 2016

USA : prison, charbon, banque…cinq secteurs économiques boostés par la victoire de Donald Trump

News

United States

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

November 9, 2016

États-Unis : le Nebraska rétablit la peine de mort

News

Death penalty Violence United States

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

November 8, 2016

6 millions d'américains interdits de voter, parmi eux 36% sont Noirs

News

United States

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

November 8, 2016

Maroc et Sahara occidental : prison pour une vingtaine de paysans après des violences avec la police

News

Africa Violence United States

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

November 7, 2016

Mumia Abu Jamal

Testimonial

Death penalty United States

African American activist in detention for 35 years

November 1, 2016

USA : prison lifer turns down parole after 63 years behind bars

News

United States

79-year-old who has spent most of his life in a Philadelphia prison has turned down the chance of parole, claiming he should be released outright without any future supervision. The Philadelphia Inquirer examined the case of Joseph Ligon, who has been in prison since the age of 15, reporting that h…

October 28, 2016

USA : Obama commutes 98 more prison sentences

News

Justice United States

With less than three months left in his term, President Barack Obama commuted the prison sentences of 98 people on Thursday. This is just one of POTUS’ rounds of commutations this year. In August, he commuted the sentences of 111 people.

October 27, 2016

États-Unis : Ndume Olatushani, "tant que je vivrai, je me battrai contre la peine de mort"

News

Death penalty Violence United States

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

October 25, 2016

USA : inmates explain how they would run prisons

News

United States

Every year, countless reports on how to make prisons more rehabilitative are published by think tanks, scholars, and advocates. Some of them rely on interviews with prisoners, while others focus on data and documents. But a new report on how Texas prisons can improve is unique: It was written solel…

October 22, 2016

USA : inside America's biggest prison strike

News

Protest United States

Tens of thousands of prisoners across the country withheld their labor – for which they are paid as little as 17 cents an hour – in support of inmates’ rights. Richard Castillo has not yet been convicted of the crime – evading police in a vehicle – of which he stands accused.

October 21, 2016

USA, Alabama : 'It's a bloodbath', as staff describe life inside America's most violent prison

News

Violence United States

A former guard and a pastor at Holman prison speak of stabbings, riots and abuse, aggravated by overcrowding and slim staff that live in fear. People inside call it the Slaughter Pen. The horrors of Holman penitentiary in southern Alabama – the stabbings, riots, fires, abuse – have earned it a repu…

October 17, 2016

USA : how to fix solitary confinement in American prisons

News

Discipline United States

Hundreds of prisoners live in solitary confinement in Los Angeles County jails. On average, they spend at least one year in a cell the size of a wheelchair-accessible bathroom stall, leaving only a few times a week, one at a time, for showers or exercise. Meals arrive through a slot in the cell doo…

October 14, 2016

USA : private prison industry fights Justice Department directive to end the use of contract facilities

News

United States

The private prison industry is lobbying against a Justice Department directive to end the use of their facilities, encouraging legislators to question the policy change and legally protesting one significant contract reduction. The moves by the GEO Group and others demonstrate the practical and pol…

October 13, 2016

États-Unis : révélations sur les séquelles psychiques de la torture américaine

News

Torture United States

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

October 8, 2016

États-Unis : et la Californie inventa la prison payante !

News

United States

Certains condamnés peuvent choisir de purger leur peine dans une prison municipale plus confortable que celle du comté. À condition de payer… (…) En Californie, certains individus ont le droit – avec l’aval du juge – de choisir le lieu de leur détention. Ils peuvent décider d’aller dans l’établisse…

September 25, 2016

USA : no touching. No human contact. The hidden toll on jail inmates who spend months or years alone in a 7x9 foot cell

News

United States

In nearly three years, Dominic Walker rarely looked another human being in the eye. Except for showers, he left his cell at Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles only once a week, to exercise in a small cage resembling a dog kennel. His conversations were typically shouted through cell bars to…

September 19, 2016

USA : how one inmate discovered his private prison was ripping him off—and took his warden to court

News

United States

Thousands of inmates file lawsuits against their prison every year. Most who sue without a lawyer are unceremoniously dismissed without much legal back-and-forth. Michael Leatherwood, an inmate in a private prison in Oklahoma, is an exception. He’s gotten notably further with his lawsuit, which all…