This year
Crises
Middle East
Torture
Violence
Israel
Israeli prison guards are taking photos and filming their abuse of Palestinian detainees, while the Israeli Prison Service says this is a ‘routine exercise’. Incarcerated Palestinian people have reported being subject to violence, kicking, punching blows to the testicles and other forms of severe a…
Europe
Justice
Overcrowding
United Kingdom
Five of the former most senior judges have intervened in the debate over the prison population crisis to urge the government to reverse the trend of locking people up for longer – declaring that ‘radical solutions’ are required to tackle the prison population crisis.
Central America and the Caribbean
Health
Material conditions
Torture
Violence
Social ties
Nicaragua
“It was an ordeal I thought would never end,” says Jose Enrique Sanchez, one of the 135 political prisoners exiled on September 5th to Guatemala by the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo. “We lived in precarious conditions,” “we endured psychological torture,” “threats to our familie…
Africa
Crises
Pre-trial detention
Access to legal rights
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Violence
Congo - Kinshasa
Families of those killed in what authorities called an attempted jailbreak in Congo’s biggest prison are demanding answers from the government as activists denounce what they say are inhumane conditions in the nation’s overcrowded penitentiaries.
Minors
Oceania
Justice
Material conditions
Violence
Australia
Children have shared their experiences locked up in Banksia Hill Detention Centre in a report that slammed the Western Australian government for “systemic failures”.
North America
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Violence
United States
This latest death follows one earlier this week at the same facility, Los Angeles’s Men’s Central Jail. The proximity of these tragedies underscores the urgency for Los Angeles County to honor the commitment it made in 2021 to close the dangerous facility and stop the cycle of death plaguing its ja…
Europe
Minors
Mental health
Drugs
Protest
Overcrowding
Violence
Rehabilitation
United Kingdom
Prisons across the country are in a deep state of crisis – the extent of which is exposed by the latest statistics. Soaring rates of violence, self-harm and drug misuse have become widespread in overcrowded prisons in England and Wales. The prison population remains “within a few hundred places of…
North America
Health
Material conditions
Facilities
United States
Legal action aims to force criminal justice department to air condition prisons, where 85,000 are at risk of heat illnesses.
Crises
Middle East
Justice
Drugs
Death penalty
Iran
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has voiced deep concern over the recent spate of executions in Iran. According to reports, Iranian authorities have executed at least 29 people across the country in a short period, following 38 executions in July. This brings the reported numbe…
United Kingdom: government will not repay ‘bed and board’ deductions to all wrongfully imprisoned
News
Europe
Justice
Rehabilitation
United Kingdom
Some victims of historic miscarriages of justice have been told by the government that bed and board costs for the time they spent in prison will be deducted from their compensation payments. Miscarriage of justice victims say money taken from compensation payouts is additional punishment.
Women
Elderly prisoners
Europe
Minors
Health
Material conditions
Turkey
Lawyers associations in Turkey visited the Batman closed prison to report human rights violations experienced by the group of youths arrested for dancing to Kurdish music. Accordingly, the group was strip searched and forced to listen to nationalistic marches as “punishment.”
Crises
Middle East
Health
Material conditions
Torture
Violence
Israel
Israeli authorities are systematically abusing Palestinians in torture camps, subjecting them to severe violence and sexual assault, B’Tselem said on Monday. In a new 118-page report, the Israeli rights group accused the government of conducting a policy of institutionalised abuse and torture again…
Europe: criminalisation of existence
Interview
Europe
Foreign prisoners
Justice
How do security policies target migrants, the economically vulnerable, or racialised individuals? A workshop examined the decriminalisation of migration and poverty and the challenges civil society faces in presenting a counter-narrative. Lawyers Without Borders reflected on the discussions.
France: Olympic Games under control
Interview
Middle East
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Violence
Egypt
Six detainees have died in one week at a detention centre in the al-Sharqia governorate in Egypt, the Egyptian Network for Human Rights (ENHR) has reported. Egyptian rights group says detainees suffered from “suffocation” due to overcrowding and poor ventilation.
Crises
Middle East
Justice
Protest
Death penalty
Iran
The “No Execution Tuesdays” campaign, a prisoner-led initiative against capital punishment in Iran, has entered its 25th consecutive week. This Tuesday, prisoners in Ardabil and Qaimshahr prisons participated in the campaign, expanding its reach to 11 prisons in the country.
North America
Women
Justice
Activities
Rehabilitation
United States
Across the country, people incarcerated in women’s prisons have less access to higher education opportunities compared to men’s prisons. That’s according to research from the Vera Institute of Justice, a nonprofit that tracks educational opportunities for incarcerated people.
Crises
Middle East
Health
Material conditions
Iran
For the past twenty days, prisoners in Ghezel (Qezel) Hesar Prison in Karaj have faced significant issues with accessing clean water. During this period, the inmates have only had access to safe drinking water for seven hours a day, putting their health at serious risk. The prison officials’ failur…