Information, topic by topic, on prisons across the world

October 9, 2020

United States: conditions at South Carolina juvenile facility unconstitutional

News

North America Minors Access to legal rights Justice Mental health Material conditions Violence United States

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued notice on February 5, 2020 that it has found the “totality of the conditions, practices, and incidents” it discovered at Broad River Road Complex (BRRC), South Carolina’s long-term juvenile commitment facility, violated the juveniles’ Fourteenth Amendment…

September 18, 2020

Iran: detainees flogged, sexually abused and given electric shocks in gruesome post-protest crackdown

Pre-trial detention Women Minors Middle East Access to legal rights Justice Protest Torture Violence Iran

Hundreds have since been sentenced to prison terms and flogging and several to the death penalty following grossly unfair trials which were presided over by biased judges behind closed doors

September 18, 2020

Estados Unidos: informes profundamente alarmantes sobre esterilización forzosa de mujeres detenidas por el ICE

News

North America Women Foreign prisoners Access to legal rights Torture Violence United States

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

September 18, 2020

Kenya: the dehumanisation and exploitation of inmates in state prisons

News

Africa Health Material conditions Torture Violence Work Kenya

Kenyan prisons today carry the DNA of their forebears – the colonial prisons and Mau Mau detention camps. They are about brutalising prisoners into submission and scaring the rest of society into compliance with the state. And like their colonial predecessors, they are also sites of forced labour.

September 18, 2020

Venezuela: deaths inside prisons doubled during pandemic

News

Central America and the Caribbean Pre-trial detention Health Protest Overcrowding Violence Venezuela

Inmate deaths have doubled in Venezuela’s jails during the coronavirus pandemic, a crisis that underscores how the country’s anarchic prisons foment violence and spread disease. Between March and August of 2020, 287 prisoners died in prisons and police holding cells, a jump from the 137 during the…

September 15, 2020

Biélorussie : les protestataires libérés racontent les tortures en prison

News

Europe Torture Violence Belarus

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

September 8, 2020

Brazil: disregard for life

Interview

Coronavirus South America Health Violence Brazil

With more than 700,000 prisoners, the ailing prison system has been thrown into turmoil by the ongoing political disorder and the health crisis caused by Covid-19. What is the future for prisons in Brazil, and what are the main challenges at present?

July 29, 2020

France: Tensions à la prison de Borgo en Corse

News

Europe Protest Violence France

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

July 27, 2020

France: Plus d’un tiers des 1400 djihadistes en prison en Europe sont détenus sur le territoire

News

Europe Facilities Violence France

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

July 15, 2020

Pakistan: dragged to Hell

Asia Death penalty Violence Religion Pakistan

Ashraf had his death sentence converted to life imprisonment. He was held during 18 years, and his spiritual life made him hold on to life while incarcerated. This is his story.

July 6, 2020

Colombia: 285 casos de discriminación a población LGBTI en prisión en 2019

News

South America LGBTQI Violence Colombia

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

June 17, 2020

Azerbaijan: punished in and out of prison

News

Asia Violence Azerbaijan

Former detainees face routine threats and intimidation

June 4, 2020

Argentina: la Provincia firmará un convenio con Naciones Unidas para mejorar las cárceles bonaerenses

News

South America Violence Rehabilitation Work Argentina

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

May 28, 2020

Honduras: prison brawl leaves six dead, two injured

News

Central America and the Caribbean Protest Violence Honduras

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Six inmates died and two more were injured between Saturday night and Sunday morning in a violent brawl in a Honduran women’s prison home to 835, part of which was set on fire, a prison official said on Sunday. The brawl started on Saturday night in the National Women’s Peni…

May 28, 2020

Mexico: eight inmates killed in prison fight

News

Central America and the Caribbean Violence Mexico

PUENTE GRANDE, Mexico (Reuters) - A violent clash at a prison in Mexico’s central state of Jalisco on Friday left eight inmates dead and another eight prisoners hospitalized with injuries, state security officials said. During the incident at a jail in the Puente Grande complex, three people were k…

May 20, 2020

Colombia: siete horas de angustia en La Modelo

News

Coronavirus South America Violence Colombia

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

May 19, 2020

Russia: after deadly prison riot in Siberia, officials are tight-lipped as families seek information on survivors

News

Coronavirus Europe Protest Violence Russia

MOSCOW – It wasn’t until two days after Russian authorities violently suppressed a riot at his prison in Siberia that Kristina Ilinova learned her husband was missing. Yevgeny Ilinov was one of 200 inmates of Corrective Colony No. 15 who mutinied on April 9 in protest of their treatment by guards a…

May 19, 2020

Guinea: plongée dans l'enfer du camp militaire de Soronkoni

News

Africa Material conditions Violence Work Guinea

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

May 18, 2020

Fiji: ex-officers accuse Fiji's prison commissioner of ordering staff to beat inmates

News

Oceania Violence Fiji

Exclusive: Four former prison officers seeking asylum in Australia claim Francis Kean, brother-in-law of Fiji’s PM, ran a brutal campaign of intimidation

May 14, 2020

UK: Erlestoke Prison inmates self-harmed hundreds of times

News

Europe Violence United Kingdom

Erlestoke Prison recorded hundreds of self-harm incidents among its inmates last year, figures show. Charity The Howard League for Penal Reform said numbers for England and Wales reveal the “sheer scale of human misery behind bars”. Ministry of Justice data recorded 263 self-harm incidents at HMP E…

May 13, 2020

Côte d'Ivoire: un journaliste tabassé et menacé de mort pour une enquête sur la prison d'Abidjan

News

Africa Violence Côte d’Ivoire

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

May 6, 2020

UK: le système pénitentiaire traverse une grave crise, selon le Comité européen anti-torture

News

Europe Overcrowding Violence United Kingdom

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

May 6, 2020

Venezuela: dozens killed, injured in prison uprising

News

Coronavirus South America Material conditions Overcrowding Violence Venezuela

Government failure to address chronically dire prison conditions

May 4, 2020

USA: the violent history of Angola prison

News

North America Violence United States

The Louisiana State Penitentiary is named after the slave plantation that existed on that land where the prison now stands. Columbia University explains that the plantation took its name from the nation its slaves were taken from: Angola. In 1880, former Confederate Major Samuel James purchased the…