News
Middle East
Access to legal rights
Death penalty
Torture
Social ties
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Interior has reported that journalist Turki al-Jasser was executed after spending seven years in prison on charges of treason, collaboration with foreign entities, financing terrorism and jeopardising national security and unity.
South America
Foreign prisoners
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
Peru
Peru is weighing sending what it considers highly dangerous foreign incarcerated people to prisons in El Salvador, the prime minister said, potentially following in the footsteps of the U.S.’ deportations of migrants to the Central American nation.
Culture
Europe
Health
Material conditions
Violence
Activities
Portugal
In a statement, the Directorate-General for Reintegration and Prison Services (DGRSP) said that “all inmates are participating in regular meal schedules,” after a group of 30 incarcerated people began a protest to demand better conditions in the prison.
Pre-trial detention
Foreign prisoners
Overcrowding
South Africa
Within three months, 6,571 more incarcerated people occupied prisons throughout South Africa, bringing the total population to 166,924 as of December 31, 2024.
Europe
Facilities
Social ties
Malta
There have been 100 people in prison and a total of 177 children under the age of fourteen who have made use of the visiting facility in Marsa intended for residents of the Corradino Correctional Facility to be able to meet with their children outside of the prison.
Zimbabwe: prison cells meant for 35 imprisoned people now holding over 80, Zimbabwe rights body says
News
Africa
Culture
Access to legal rights
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Violence
Social ties
Zimbabwe
Prison cells meant to hold 35 imprisoned people are now crammed with more than 80 people at Harare Remand Prison, where broken phone lines have cut off imprisoned people from families and two university students were barred from writing exams while in custody.
Asia
Elderly prisoners
Long-term prisoners
Justice
Drugs
Activities
Rehabilitation
Work
Japan
For the first time in more than a century, Japan has overhauled its prison system with new rules placing greater emphasis on rehabilitation over punishment to combat the country’s high recidivism rates.
Culture
Oceania
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Facilities
New Zealand
The Government has opened a new 596-bed facility at Waikeria Prison. It comprises 28 buildings across 21 hectares, 14 kilometres south of Te Awamutu.
Pre-trial detention
Asia
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Violence
Social ties
Azerbaijan
Media reports regarding the harsh conditions in pretrial detention centres have intensified following the publication of letters from journalists and activists in prison.
Crises
Minors
Middle East
Drugs
Death penalty
Social ties
Iran
Iran executed at least 163 imprisoned people in May, marking a 143 percent increase from the 67 executions recorded in May 2024, according to a human rights organization.
Central America and the Caribbean
Foreign prisoners
Access to legal rights
Material conditions
Facilities
Religion
El Salvador
The country’s Catholic bishops have published a pastoral letterwarning of the risk of turning the Central American nation into a “large international prison” and demanding an end to the state of emergency.
Africa
Access to legal rights
Justice
Mental health
South Africa
People who are found unfit to stand trial or be held criminally liable for a crime due to their psychiatric state are supposed to receive specialised care in the health system. But hundreds are being kept in prisons.
Women
Oceania
Discipline
Mental health
Material conditions
Suicide
Social ties
Australia
A former incarcerated person says she documented seven suicide attempts in just four weeks inside Victoria’s maximum security women’s prison, amid a wave of lockdowns triggered by staff shortages.
Women
Middle East
Suicide
Violence
Saudi Arabia
Girls and young women describe facing flogging and abuse in so-called “care homes” after arguing with their fathers or husbands.
Middle East
Foreign prisoners
Justice
Material conditions
Social ties
Iran
Iran slammed France for filing a case against it at the International Court of Justice over the detention of two French nationals in conditions Paris denounced as inhumane. Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris have been able to receive only four consular visits during their three-year detention.