Information, topic by topic, on prisons across the world

June 29, 2021

Australia: Ageing prisoners

Analysis Opinion

Coronavirus Elderly prisoners Oceania Health Alternatives Australia

ICPR and Prison Insider asked several experts worldwide to share their insights in the framework of the project ‘Understanding and reducing the use of imprisonment in 10 countries’. Natasha Ginnivan discusses the ageing prison population in Australia.

September 23, 2020

Australia: prisoner advocates call for abolition of 'discriminatory' voting restrictions as inmates prepare to cast vote in state election for the first time

News

Coronavirus Pre-trial detention Oceania Access to legal rights Health Material conditions Overcrowding Rehabilitation Australia

For the first time in Queensland’s history, thousands of inmates in correctional centres across the state will be given the right to vote in the upcoming october state election.

July 29, 2020

Australia: Hepatitis C outbreak ignites debate on needle exchange in Queensland correctional centres

News

Oceania Health Drugs Australia

Pressure is mounting on the Queensland Government to implement Needle and Syringe Programs (NSPs) in the state’s correctional centres amid an outbreak of hepatitis C at a Far North Queensland prison.

July 27, 2020

Australia : "Prison is no place for a child"

News

Minors Oceania Australia

Despite repeated campaigns against it, Australia still puts children as young as 10 behind bars. But pressure is growing to raise the age of criminal responsibility with a key meeting on Monday to discuss the issue.

June 4, 2020

Australia: aboriginal people in prison and out-of-home care suffering under 'punitive' Covid-19 restrictions

News

Coronavirus Minors Oceania Material conditions Social ties Australia

Report reveals inmates going without soap and children in out-of-home care system being refused contact with families

May 19, 2020

Australia: 'my son should not have died', prison death of Indigenous man is much more than an 'isolated tragedy'

News

Oceania Australia

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people account for just two per cent of Australia’s population but about 27 per cent of its prisoners.

April 9, 2020

Australia: prison radicalisation and deradicalisation

News

Oceania Australia

A number of people who have committed acts of terrorism were radicalised in prison. Examples include Richard Reid (the 2001 ‘shoe-bomber’), some individuals involved in the 2004 Madrid bombing, and the attackers who committed the Charlie Hebdo shooting in Paris in 2015. Studies of European and US j…

April 6, 2020

Australia: 'urgent action' needed over high proportion of Indigenous women in prison, report says

News

Women Oceania Australia

The number of Indigenous women in custody has been called “one of the most challenging human rights issues facing Australia”. Research out today has shed new light on Indigenous women in the criminal justice system in New South Wales. It found the number of women in NSW jails between March 2013 and…

March 26, 2020

Australia: women released from prison are at much greater risk of violence

News

Women Oceania Violence Australia

Violence against women is rarely out of the news in Australia. We are now ten years into the National Action Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women (2010-2022), but there is still a long way to go. Our research shows this is particularly true for women who have been to prison. The considerable chall…

March 9, 2020

Australia: WA's overcrowded prison system is a 'ticking time bomb'

News

Oceania Overcrowding Australia

A former inmate describes conditions inside the prison system as a “ticking time bomb”, with staff and prisoners under increasing stress

February 27, 2020

Australia: do people in prison matter less in an emergency than those who are free?

News

Oceania Australia

There is one image from the bushfire crisis that I am still not able to shake. It has led to night terrors where I wake in a sweat, feeling embers on my face and a desperate need to walk outside and look at the sky.

January 2, 2020

Australiia : Christmas in prison: How female inmates cope and support each other a "sad and lonely" time

News

Women Oceania Australia

December 25th can be a chaotic mix of cheer and stress, but above all, it is a time of year dedicated to family. While most celebrate with their loved ones, for those in prison, Christmas is a complicated matter. “It has a bit more of an impact on the women,” said Superintendent Julie Steineuer fro…

September 25, 2019

Australia: atados y amordazados, la realidad de los menores en las cárceles

News

Oceania Australia

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

September 5, 2019

Australia: a third of the prison population has Hepatitis C, ice inquiry hears

News

Oceania Australia

NSW prison inmates who had been previously cured of Hepatitis C were being reinfected up to three times, the ice inquiry has heard.

August 17, 2019

Australia: where do you go when you leave jail?

News

Oceania Australia

Picture this: You’ve just walked out of jail in a country town. You’re given one change of clothes, about $275 and two nights at a motel. What would you do?

August 6, 2019

Australia: mums in prison or whose babies are in care need breastfeeding support too

News

Oceania Australia

Australian women want to breastfeed but many struggle. And the most disadvantaged face the biggest challenges.

July 29, 2019

Australia: juvenile prison guards strip searches cause mental health problems, former inmates claim

News

Oceania Health Mental health Australia

Children as young as 10 years old are being routinely strip searched in juvenile detention in NSW with minimal or no contraband found, according to new data.

July 5, 2019

Australia: Queensland government accepts prison overhaul after scathing report

News

Oceania Australia

The Queensland government has agreed to support 33 recommendations from a scathing report that found the state’s prison system was rife with overcrowding and corruption.

July 1, 2019

Australia: the biggest and most expensive jail sparks concerns in Grafton

News

Oceania Australia

Australia’s biggest and most expensive jail is being built near the New South Wales north coast town of Grafton, and locals are increasingly worried about the impact it will have on their region.

June 20, 2019

Australia: Sydney PC assembler using prison labour

News

Oceania Australia

An unidentified PC assembly company is using inmates at a Sydney prison to build some of its products.

June 20, 2019

Australia: "I just need it to end"

Testimonial

Oceania Australia

Ralph is a British citizen detained in a prison farm, in Kernet. He has been incarcerated for more than six years and is about to be released. He tells Prison Insider how a regular day goes by in prison.

June 17, 2019

Australia: Aboriginal man dies in custody days after jail was told he was suicidal

News

Oceania Suicide Australia

An Aboriginal man has died in a Western Australian prison just days after his mother reportedly called the jail to warn that he was suicidal.

June 13, 2019

Australia: Canberra's prison applied dress standards to visitors which could breach the Discrimination Act

News

Oceania Social ties Australia

The ACT Human Rights Commission is seeking clarification about the dress standards imposed on visitors at Canberra’s jail which included a ban on swimsuits, tight-fitting clothing and skirts shorter than mid-thigh.

May 16, 2019

Australia: babies and toddlers are living with their mums in prison, we need to look after them better

News

Oceania Australia

Women are going to prison at a higher rate than ever in Australia. Our tough sentencing policies sent women to prison at twice the rate of England and Wales in 2018.