News
Africa
Access to legal rights
Drugs
Material conditions
Social ties
Nigeria
Journalist and activist Agba Jalingo has described Nigerian detention centres and prisons as hubs of extortion and illicit activities, alleging that access to basic rights in custody depends largely on money.
Crises
Middle East
Health
Material conditions
Facilities
Iran
A 21-hour power outage at Sheiban Prison left incarcerated people in critical condition during extreme heat, human rights sources reported on Thursday. Power was cut from 9 p.m. Tuesday to 6 p.m. Wednesday as temperatures in Ahvaz exceeded 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit).
Africa
Drugs
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
South Africa
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) member of Parliament (MP), Betty Diale, has called for urgent action to fix broken correctional services. According to Diale, the correctional services system is exposed to overcrowding, collapsing infrastructure, rampant gangsterism and contraband smuggling.
Asia
Health
Social ties
Tajikistan
Relatives of Abdusattor Pirmukhammadzod, a Tajik journalist, report that they have not received information about his condition for the past six months. Two months ago, they complained that they had not received any news about his health and could not meet with him in Khujand prison.
Pre-trial detention
Oceania
Mental health
Suicide
Overcrowding
Australia
Overcrowded cells break people — prison suicides linked to worsening mental illness and disrupted sleep are infrastructural failures, writes Gerry Georgatos.
United States: people in NY prison’s mental health unit kept in solitary confinement, suit says
News
North America
Mental health
Facilities
Suicide
Social ties
United States
In recent months, at least two people on the unit have attempted suicide and at least three have gone on hunger strike.
Pre-trial detention
Oceania
Access to legal rights
Justice
Health
New Zealand
New Zealand’s prisons hold about 4,500 men and women who have not been convicted of any crime. They are on remand, by law presumed innocent, awaiting trial.
Women
Europe
Mental health
Suicide
Violence
United Kingdom
The number of self-harm incidents at a women’s prison in Surrey has increased by nearly 20% in a year, a report has found. The Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) said a high turnover of incarcerated people at HMP Send had contributed to a number of “concerning trends”.
Pre-trial detention
Europe
Overcrowding
United Kingdom
The number of people in Scotland’s prisons has risen back above the level which sparked the early release of hundreds of incarcerated people to free up space.
Central America and the Caribbean
Health
Social ties
Cuba
The family of Félix Navarro complains that they cannot fully understand his health status in prison. The opposition leader, who has been imprisoned again in the Agüica prison in Matanzas since his parole was revoked last April, is ill and isolated.
United States: California sues Los Angeles County over "inhumane" conditions in its jail system
News
North America
Justice
Health
Material conditions
United States
Citing “inhumane conditions” and a “shocking rate of deaths”, Attorney General Rob Bonta on Monday announced that the state is suing Los Angeles County over conditions in its jail system.
China: draft revision to prison law review, including provisions for foreign incarcerated people
News
Asia
Foreign prisoners
Justice
Social ties
Rehabilitation
China
A draft revision to China’s Prison Law was submitted to the 17th session of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People’s Congress (NPC) for its second reading.
Europe
Facilities
Overcrowding
United Kingdom
Prisons in England reached a crisis point under the last government as “tough on crime” policies led to overcrowding after decades of structural failings and entrenched issues.
Crises
North America
Justice
Health
Material conditions
Facilities
United States
Lawyers requested swift cooling measures in a prison with no A/C. One man shares the dangerous conditions inside while people await a judge’s ruling
Pre-trial detention
Europe
Drugs
Overcrowding
Activities
Social ties
Work
United Kingdom
Staff corruption is a “major problem” at an overcrowded West London prison where over a third of incarcerated people are testing positive for illegal drugs, prison inspectors have found.
Crises
Middle East
Health
Material conditions
Torture
Violence
Israel
The petition alleged that the policy of trimming down food counts as hunger and holding incarcerated people in torturous conditions, which goes against both Israeli law and international law.