Material conditions
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).
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Crises
Discipline
Health
Material conditions
Facilities
Violence
Cuba
In this testimonial published by the Cuban Prison Documentation Center, Carlos Michael Morales, incarcerated after 11J protests, shares his experience as a prisoner in Cuba.
Prison Insider in 2025
Activity report
Crises
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
Social ties
Staying true to its mission, Prison Insider continues to shed light on prison conditions across the globe, year after year. Take a look at the activities carried out in 2025 by leafing through our activity report.
Scotland: “A state of permanent hyperawareness”
Testimonial
Europe
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Facilities
Social ties
Rehabilitation
United Kingdom
John has been incarcerated for nearly twenty years since the age of 16. Now a husband, a father, and a PhD researcher, he shares his story with us — from his time behind bars to how prison still impacts him today. Interview.
Africa
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
Alternatives
Rehabilitation
Mozambique
Mozambique’s Attorney-General, Americo Letela, has revealed that the country’s prisons now hold more than twice the number of incarcerated people they were designed for.
Europe
Discipline
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Suicide
Torture
Social ties
Belarus
United Nations experts expressed concern over allegations of prolonged incommunicado detention and dire custody conditions in Belarus that may amount to torture.
Europe
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Belgium
A record number of incarcerated people in Belgium are sleeping on the floor as prison overcrowding worsens, with 750 people currently without a bed, according to the ACOD Prisons trade union.
Crises
Asia
Europe
Health
Material conditions
Russia
A former Moscow district official serving a long prison sentence in Russia for what he says were trumped-up political charges has declared a “dry hunger strike”, refusing both food and water.
Pre-trial detention
Minors
Material conditions
Facilities
Haiti
The Center for the Re-education of Minors in Conflict with the Law (CERMICOL), has been transformed into a tripartite detention center where minors, women, and men, displaced from prisons destroyed by gang violence and increased insecurity, are now housed together.
Africa
Material conditions
Social ties
South Sudan
Torit Prison has reported commendable agricultural yields from its farms located in Magwi, Hatire, and other parts of Eastern Equatoria State. However, National Prison Service officials have expressed significant concern over the lack of transportation.
Asia
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Suicide
India
The National Humans Rights Commission raised serious concerns about living conditions, healthcare and human rights violations inside the state’s prison system.
Europe
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Belgium
Public sector union ACOD and the Federal Prison Service are once again sounding the alarm as the number of incarcerated people in Brussels prisons continues to rise significantly.
Europe
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
Violence
Finland
Finnish prisons suffer from overcrowding, which has spurred more violence behind bars. This year, new cell blocks are being built at prisons in Helsinki and Kylmäkoski to accommodate 180 incarcerated people.
Africa
Pre-trial detention
Women
Access to legal rights
Material conditions
Social ties
Senegal
Maïmouna Diouf served several years in a women’s prison, found guilty of infanticide, a charge she denies. She says conditions were harsh — dirty mattresses on the floor, a lack of sufficient food and hygiene products.
Europe
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Ireland
Cork Prison has hit yet another overcrowding record, with 423 people in custody today, 120 of them without beds.
Asia
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Social ties
Iran
Reports indicate shortages of suitable drinking water, reductions in the quantity and quality of food, limitations on the operation of prison stores, shortages of medication, and a decline in medical services.
Asia
Minors
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Iran
According to information obtained by IranWire, individuals detained during the January protests in Mashhad are currently being kept in harsh and deteriorating conditions inside Vakilabad Prison.
Europe
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Suicide
Overcrowding
Activities
United Kingdom
A Glasgow prison is “breaching core human rights” and its incarcerated people are “unable to shower daily”, according to a new report on Scottish prisons.
Europe
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Violence
France
As of February 1, French prisons were housing more than 86,000 incarcerated people, despite having a capacity of around 63,000. This brought the occupancy rate to 136.9%. Overcrowding forced 6,596 imprisoned people to sleep on mattresses on the floor.