Information, topic by topic, on prisons across the world

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October 7, 2025

Connecting Stories Beyond Bars

America Pre-trial detention Women Europe Long-term prisoners Access to legal rights Mental health Material conditions Violence Social ties

‘Connecting Stories Beyond Bars - The invisible impact of prison on relatives’ is a six-episode docuseries produced with Acifad (Argentina), Amparar (Brasil), Relais Famille (Canada), OIP-SF (France), Documenta (Mexico) and POPS (UK). Read

May 6, 2026

United States: Texas prisons saw 2,500% increase in overdose deaths in 7 years, TDCJ leader says

News

America Health Drugs United States

Overdose deaths in Texas prisons jumped 2,480% over the past seven years, a state prison official told lawmakers this week as they consider ways to curb contraband in Texas correctional facilities.

May 4, 2026

Trinidad and Tobago: broken prison system undermining crime fight, experts say

News

America Facilities Overcrowding Alternatives Rehabilitation Trinidad & Tobago

As the Government intensifies its fight against crime through State of Emergency measures, policing strategies and legislative reform, one of the country’s most critical crime-generating environments—the prison system—continues to operate under severe strain.

April 20, 2026

United States: as Montana moves incarcerated people to a prison in Mississippi, families worry about losing contact

News

America Facilities Social ties United States

The Montana Department of Corrections plans to move hundreds of incarcerated people to Mississippi, adding obstacles and uncertainty for families trying to keep in touch with their loved ones.

April 17, 2026

Venezuela: dozens of political prisoners freed

News

America Crises Venezuela

Venezuela freed 46 political prisoners on April 16, the latest releases after the fall of autocratic leader Nicolas Maduro.

April 16, 2026

El Salvador: Bukele signs reforms allowing life prison sentences for people as young as 12

News

America Minors Long-term prisoners El Salvador

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele signed into law constitutional reforms to permit life prison sentences for people as young as 12, a contentious reform that follows other heavy-handed measures pushed through by the populist leader.

April 13, 2026

United States: State Police investigate 3 recent deaths at separate North Country prisons

News

America Justice Health Suicide Violence United States

The New York State Police are investigating three deaths at separate prisons in the North Country over the last week.

April 3, 2026

United States: how incarceration reinforces poverty

News

America Social ties Work United States

Incarcerated people and their families are exploited in an unjust system.

April 1, 2026

United States: half of Massachusetts prison suicides were in solitary

News

America Discipline Suicide United States

A recent report found three of the six suicides in Massachusetts prisons in 2025 took place in segregated units.

March 29, 2026

El Salvador: 500 incarcerated people die in custody during Bukele anti-gang crackdown

News

America Health Violence El Salvador

A Salvadoran human rights organization says at least 500 people have died in state custody since President Nayib Bukele launched his anti-gang offensive four years ago, with the vast majority having no ties to criminal groups.

March 17, 2026

United States: Texas prison program reports 89% success rate in reducing reoffending

News

America Alternatives United States

A 14-week restorative justice program operating inside Texas prisons reports that 89% of graduates do not reoffend within three years, Bridges to Life representative Christine Hanks said.

March 14, 2026

United States: lack of social justice programs fuels female incarceration rate

News

America Women Drugs Activities United States

Female incarceration globally has increased 60% in the last 25 years. There are 740,000 women and girls incarcerated in jails and prisons worldwide; 200,000 of them are in the United States, according to a 2025 report from the Prison Policy Initiative.

March 5, 2026

Venezuela: Argentina's freed Border Guard alleges "psychological torture" in prison

News

America Crises Foreign prisoners Mental health Torture Venezuela

Nahuel Gallo, the Argentine Board Guard officer who was freed after 448 days in a Venezuelan prison said that he had been held in a facility of “psychological torture.”

March 4, 2026

Mexico: Cefereso No.16, the "cemetery of the living"

Interview

America Crises Women Justice Mental health Facilities Suicide Social ties Mexico

Designed as a maximum security facility, Cefereso No. 16 is Mexico’s only federal women’s prison, and concern over its living conditions is rising. Interview with Algaraza.

March 3, 2026

United States: suicide hotline now available in Washington state prisons

News

America Mental health Suicide United States

Some welcome the resource while others fear violations of privacy and punishment for sharing their thoughts.

March 2, 2026

Bahamas: unable to wash incarcerated people' clothes, prison seeks to outsource

News

America Health Material conditions Bahamas

Doan Cleare, commissioner of the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services, said only two of eight washing machines are working at the Fox Hill prison and they are not able to handle the load of the more than 1,800 incarcerated people.

March 2, 2026

United States: lawsuit accuses Illinois prison of forcing pregnant woman into induced labor

News

America Women Mental health Violence United States

A woman is suing the Illinois Department of Corrections, claiming she was forced to give birth before her due date while she was incarcerated in 2024.

March 1, 2026

Haiti: the health and humanitarian situation at Jérémie prison is worrying

News

America Minors Health Mental health Material conditions Haiti

The conditions of detention are marked by serious deficiencies in sanitation, food, and social services, and a large and vulnerable prison population.

February 24, 2026

United States: beating by guards, not a heart attack, killed man in Mississippi prison, report shows

News

America Justice Health Violence United States

The FBI is now investigating after a report showed that Mississippi guards beat an incarcerated person to death.

February 24, 2026

Mexico: 23 incarcerated people loose, prison guard dead after cartel stages prison break in Puerto Vallarta

News

America Crises Facilities Mexico

Puerto Vallarta’s regional prison was hit in a coordinated attack, leaving one guard dead and 23 incarcerated people missing. Authorities say armed men rammed a vehicle through the front gate and opened fire, triggering chaos inside the facility.

February 20, 2026

Colombia: Medellin builds mega-prison inspired by El Salvador's CECOT

News

America Facilities Colombia

The mayor of Medellin touted the construction of a mega-prison in his city, Colombia’s second-largest, becoming the latest Latin American leader to mimic the iron-fisted approach to gang violence of El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele.

February 18, 2026

United States: food in New York prisons lacks nutritional balance, advocates say

News

America Health Material conditions United States

Food in New York’s state prisons lacks nutritional balance, and issues with packages and commissary lead to minimal healthy options for those incarcerated, a report from the Correctional Association of New York found.

February 16, 2026

Ecuador: prison deaths climb again despite Noboa security strategy, data shows

News

America Crises Health Violence Ecuador

After hundreds of Ecuadorean incarcerated people were killed in prison riots in 2021 and 2022, President Daniel Noboa made restoring order in jails one of the central pillars of his security strategy when he took office in 2023.

February 13, 2026

United States: judge blocks transfer of former federal death row incarcerated people to maximum-security prison

News

America Long-term prisoners Justice Facilities Death penalty United States

A US federal judge temporarily halted a plan by President Donald Trump’s administration to move 20 former federal death row incarcerated people to the country’s most restrictive correctional facility.