News
Europe
Justice
Material conditions
Protest
Overcrowding
Italy
Prisoners in the northern Italian city of Parma are on hunger strike over poor sanitation and overcrowding, the latest in a spate of protests in the country’s jails where cases of suicide and self-harm are at an all-time high.
Europe
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Torture
Belgium
The incident in which a prisoner in Antwerp was tortured for several days by cellmates is the result of “scandalous working conditions” for staff and prison overcrowding, unions said on Wednesday.
Women
Europe
Minors
Foreign prisoners
Activities
Finland
There were an average of 3,143 prisoners in Finland last year, according to figures released on Tuesday by the Prison and Probation Service.
Central America and the Caribbean
Protest
Violence
Haiti
Haiti has declared a three-day state of emergency and a night-time curfew after armed gangs stormed the country’s two biggest jails, allowing more than 3 000 prisoners to escape.
Africa
Access to legal rights
Justice
Social ties
Kenya
Prisoners held in custody have been granted the right to attend the funerals of their close family members, unless compelling reasons dictate otherwise. The ruling was made in a case by former journalist Moses Dola, who is serving a 10-year prison sentence since 2018.
North America
Women
Torture
Violence
United States
Despite highly publicized arrests and promises of change, sexual abuse and retaliation continue at the prison in Dublin, California.
Europe
Material conditions
Social ties
United Kingdom
According to the Prison Service, all 92 closed public-sector prisons in England and Wales will be fully fitted with phones by February 24.
Asia
Justice
Material conditions
Violence
Russia
Russia’s most significant opposition leader for the past decade, Alexei Navalny, has died in an Arctic Circle jail, the prison service has said. President Vladimir Putin’s most vociferous critic, he was serving 19 years on extremism charges that were widely seen as politically motivated.
Central America and the Caribbean
Material conditions
Facilities
El Salvador
Since the Cecot (Centre for the Confinement of Terrorism) opened on 31 January 2023, the BBC had repeatedly requested access to the mega-prison. It was finally granted two days after President Nayib Bukele claimed victory in the presidential election held on 4 February.
Oceania
Mental health
Material conditions
Facilities
New Zealand
Prisoners seeking mental health support at a prison south of Palmerston North were waiting up to three months to see a clinician, inspectors say.
North America
Access to legal rights
Health
United States
Mississippi prison health care contractors withheld cancer diagnosis and treatment for years, a lawsuit filed Wednesday alleges.
South America
Justice
Material conditions
Torture
Ecuador
An Ecuadorian judge has ordered the Ombudsman’s Office to investigate alleged acts of torture by the military in several prisons in the country. The move comes under the state of emergency enacted by the government at the beginning of January to end a prison riot crisis.
Minors
Oceania
Material conditions
Facilities
Australia
Youth people in detention have no air conditioning in their cells at Casuarina Prison’s Unit 18. There are fresh calls for Unit 18 to be closed immediately, with authorities yet to answer questions about what else is being done to help detained people stay cool.
Europe
Material conditions
Overcrowding
United Kingdom
The head of the Scottish Prison Service Teresa Medhurst has said the jails are too full and she may soon have to say “enough is enough, we cannot take any more”.