Information, topic by topic, on prisons across the world

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

Turquie: l’écrivain Ahmet Altan entame sa cinquième année en prison en Turquie

News

Culture Europe Long-term prisoners Access to legal rights Justice Turkey

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

September 18, 2020

Liban : le documentaire qui met le pays face à lui-même

News

Culture Middle East Mental health Lebanon

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

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 18, 2020

Iran: situation of women

News

Women Middle East Health Material conditions Iran

Torture, crackdown with water and electricity cuts in scorching heat along with coronavirus outbreak

September 17, 2020

France : suicides en prison

News

Europe Mental health Suicide Social ties Religion France

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

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 15, 2020

France: Eric Dupond-Moretti annonce un budget 2021 "exceptionnel" pour la justice

News

Europe Justice France

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

September 15, 2020

Nicaragua: mujeres trans hablan desde las prisiones durante la COVID-19

News

Central America and the Caribbean Women LGBTQI Access to legal rights Justice Health Material conditions Nicaragua

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

September 15, 2020

México: las otras pandemias en las cárceles

News

Coronavirus Central America and the Caribbean Health Mental health Material conditions Overcrowding Mexico

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

September 14, 2020

El Salvador: "son criminales y no están con este gobierno"

News

Central America and the Caribbean El Salvador

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

September 14, 2020

España: el gobierno vasco urge a "adaptar la política penitenciaria a la realidad actual"

News

Europe Justice Health Mental health Spain

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

September 14, 2020

United States: the expensive burden of parole, probation unjustly places people in a second prison

News

North America Justice United States

When President Donald Trump commuted Alice Marie Johnson’s life sentence in 2018, many observers assumed that the grandmother was fully free. What they didn’t realize at the time was that Johnson, who was convicted of a first-time, nonviolent drug offense, still wore the “invisible shackle” of prob…

September 14, 2020

United Kingdom: teenage killers could spend rest of their lives in prison after "life means life" shake-up

News

Europe Minors Justice United Kingdom

The government is planning to lower the age at which murderers can be jailed for life without parole from 21 to 18.

September 14, 2020

United States: can Kentucky keep charging prisoners for their jail stay if they are found not guilty?

News

North America Justice United States

Kentucky State law allows county jails to charge prisoners a daily fee during their stay while fighting their case. But what happens when the person is found not guilty of the charges and gets released? According to a February 14, 2020 ruling by the Kentucky Court of Appeals, even if the state thro…

September 14, 2020

Prisons and jails are rolling back free phone and video calls. They should be extending them instead

News

Coronavirus North America Social ties United States

Amidst a pandemic and recession, policymakers should be fighting for extended — if not permanent — financial relief for incarcerated people and their families.

September 14, 2020

United States: Missouri attorney general's office pushes to keep innocent people in prison

News

North America Justice United States

Its decades-long commitment to upholding convictions—even those marred by police or prosecutorial misconduct—has left Missourians languishing in prison for years.

September 14, 2020

Mapping the 'Blind Spots'

Interview

Africa North America Women Asia Death penalty

What are maps for? How are they produced?

September 14, 2020

France : à quand un nouveau contrôleur général des lieux de privation de liberté ?

News

Europe Access to legal rights Justice France

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

September 13, 2020

Prison Insider in 2019

Activity report

Women Access to legal rights Mental health Death penalty

Prison Insider aims to gather and provide publicly useful information on the state of prisons and detention conditions across the world. Take a look at the activities carried out in 2019 by leafing through our activity report.

September 9, 2020

Africa: the impossible confinement

Interview

Africa Coronavirus Crises Health Material conditions

In Africa, the COVID-19 epidemic is evolving differently compared to Europe or America. Is the lockdown a solution to the spread of the epidemic?

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?