Asia
Mutineers, rebels and objectors
Analysis
Inside Outside
Africa
North America
South America
Asia
Europe
Middle East
Protest
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. Eighth piece: rebellion.
Caught in the spiral
Thematic paper
Africa
Pre-trial detention
Asia
Access to legal rights
Justice
Drugs
Alternatives
Rehabilitation
What are the human and social costs of the recourse to imprisonment? This series explores the experiences of various civil society organisations, formerly incarcerated people, researchers and policy makers challenging the criminalisation of poverty, status or activism.
Asia
Long-term prisoners
Justice
Health
Violence
Religion
Azerbaijan
Multiple imprisoned people have gone on hunger strike over the last two weeks. The first person to do so, prominent opposition politician Tofig Yagublu, a member of the opposition Musavat Party, announced his ‘death hunger strike’ in March after being sentenced to nine years in prison.
Asia
Health
Mental health
Suicide
Armenia
Eight people have died in penitentiaries in the first quarter of 2025, with half of the cases resulting from suicide. In comparison, 2024 saw 12 deaths in prisons, all officially classified as natural causes, with ten occurring in civilian hospitals, according to the Penitentiary Service.
India: congested jails in Kerala's Ernakulam raise concerns as hunt for new prison site drags on
News
Asia
Drugs
Facilities
Overcrowding
India
The wait for a new sub-jail in the district continues even as overcrowding in existing prisons becomes a growing concern. Though the district administration sanctioned land in Puthuvype for the project last year, the plot was later deemed unfit for construction.
Asia
Health
Material conditions
Facilities
Protest
Overcrowding
Alternatives
Indonesia
President Prabowo Subianto’s pledge to construct a remote island prison for corrupt officials has been met with scepticism from experts, who argued that deeper structural reforms of the prison system were needed to address chronic overcrowding and underfunding.
Asia
Access to legal rights
Drugs
Material conditions
Death penalty
Torture
Activities
Social ties
Indonesia
Banished from the mainland, imprisoned people in Indonesia’s notorious Nusakambangan Island await news of their fate. The prison complex is home to a number of prisons of varying levels of security. The least volatile can expect to spend their days working in the fields and carving gems.
Women bearing the weight of the law
Analysis
Africa
North America
Central America and the Caribbean
South America
Women
Asia
Europe
LGBTQI
Oceania
Access to legal rights
Justice
Drugs
Death penalty
Violence
More and more women across the world are being imprisoned, mostly for minor, non-violent offences. What discriminatory and punitive logic is being applied? What is being done to fight back against it?
Malaysia: family wants Suhakam probe on Taiping Hospital, prison after incarcerated person’s death
News
Asia
Justice
Health
Violence
Social ties
Malaysia
The family of an imprisoned person has urged the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) to investigate Taiping Hospital and Taiping prison over the circumstances surrounding his death. Sisiliya Joseph, the sister of M Vijian, alleged that authorities concealed the injuries he sustained.
Women
Asia
Minors
Access to legal rights
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Torture
Social ties
Pakistan
Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights expressed serious concerns over the lack of basic facilities and overcrowded conditions in jails and the delay in provision of justice.
Crises
Asia
Mental health
Torture
Violence
Religion
China
Subjected to arbitrary arrests and forced labor, sterilizations to torture, more than one million Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other minorities are estimated to have been locked up in so-called “re-education” camps and prisons in the region over the last decade.
Asia
Activities
Rehabilitation
China
An online charity platform that offers products designed and produced by incarcerated people has garnered favorable feedback from the public. The platform, Made in Prison, offers a variety of products including woodenware, ornaments, stationery, rattan products, and daily necessities.
India: states must consider remission of eligible imprisoned people even without their application
News
Asia
Long-term prisoners
Justice
Alternatives
India
States and Union Territories with a policy for the permanent remission of imprisoned people must consider their early release even without a request from them or their family, the Supreme Court ruled.
Women
Asia
Minors
Foreign prisoners
Access to legal rights
Justice
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Pakistan
Punjab Home Department has taken a commendable step by amending the 125-year-old prison rules under the vision of Punjab’s chief minister for comprehensive jail reforms. According to the spokesperson, in the first phase, 138 jail rules were revised to meet modern standards.
Asia
Foreign prisoners
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Social ties
Thailand
The ex-soldier, who has remained anonymous, has exposed the inhumane conditions he witnessed after sneaking a camera inside the jail. The 29-year-old said he was held in two police cells and a Bangkok deportation centre for 15 days.
Crises
Asia
Access to legal rights
Health
Material conditions
Facilities
Torture
Social ties
Russia
What was once a detention centre for juveniles and women with children, Detention Centre No. 2, or SIZO-2, in Taganrog has for over two and a half years been used to detain captured Ukrainians. The facility has become notorious for inhumane conditions.