Access to legal rights
The mechanics of punishment (5/6)
Testimonial
America
Europe
Minors
Access to legal rights
Justice
Violence
Social ties
Alternatives
Prison is not only a place of punishment; it is also a reflection of social divides. Rather than repairing damage, it accentuates inequalities and perpetuates discrimination. To combat this, associations of relatives are establishing themselves as spaces of resistance.
From experience to action (6/6)
Testimonial
America
Europe
Access to legal rights
Justice
Social ties
The prison system deprives and marginalises, but resignation does not prevail. Relatives take action and demand justice to build a system respectful of human rights.
Europe
Access to legal rights
Justice
Mental health
United Kingdom
The family of a Gloucestershire man who has been in prison for 16 years after initially being given a two-and-a-half year sentence are appealing to parliament for his release.
Africa
Crises
Foreign prisoners
Access to legal rights
Eswatini
A Cuban man deported by the United States to Eswatini is on a hunger strike at a maximum-security prison, having been held there for more than three months without charge or access to legal counsel under the Trump administration’s third-country program.
Crises
Middle East
Access to legal rights
Health
Mental health
Torture
Violence
Israel
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office has revealed harrowing conditions faced by Palestinian in the Rakevet section of the Israeli Ramla prison, describing a systematic campaign of starvation, torture, medical neglect, and humiliation.
What prison is not
Thematic paper
Access to legal rights
Discipline
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
Violence
Activities
Alternatives
Work
Overcrowded facilities or incarcerated people “treated too well”, systemic violence or “five-star prisons”: what do the facts actually say? Find out via four fact-checking articles to combat disinformation on detention conditions.
Crises
Middle East
Access to legal rights
Social ties
Iran
Political prisoners at Qezvin Prison have had their phone access restricted to two hours per day, reportedly without the prison director’s knowledge, according to information obtained by IranWire.
Africa
Access to legal rights
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
South Africa
The Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC PF) opened a two-day consultation in Johannesburg focusing on health in prisons and the draft SADC model law on prison oversight.
Africa
Access to legal rights
Drugs
Material conditions
Social ties
Nigeria
Journalist and activist Agba Jalingo has described Nigerian detention centres and prisons as hubs of extortion and illicit activities, alleging that access to basic rights in custody depends largely on money.
Pre-trial detention
Oceania
Access to legal rights
Justice
Health
New Zealand
New Zealand’s prisons hold about 4,500 men and women who have not been convicted of any crime. They are on remand, by law presumed innocent, awaiting trial.
Crises
Women
Elderly prisoners
Minors
Middle East
Access to legal rights
Social ties
Israel
Only one in four incarcerated person from Gaza are identified as fighters by Israel’s military intelligence, classified data indicates, with civilians making up the vast majority of Palestinians held without charge or trial in abusive prisons.
Africa
Access to legal rights
Social ties
Eswatini
Five men deported by the United States to Eswatini in July have been held in a maximum-security prison for seven weeks without charge or explanation and with no access to legal counsel.
Africa
Crises
Access to legal rights
Death penalty
Violence
Social ties
Congo - Kinshasa
The DRC has experienced a major political and economic crisis for decades, coupled with a civil war. What are the implications for detention? The League of Voluntary Sacrifices for Human Rights and the Environment (Ligue des Sacrifices Volontaires pour les Droits Humains et l’Environnement) answers…
Pre-trial detention
Asia
Access to legal rights
Religion
China
Hong Kong has proposed tightening its prison rules to restrict inmate visits, including those made by religious leaders and lawyers, if the authorities deem it necessary for national security.
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.
Africa
Pre-trial detention
Access to legal rights
Justice
Material conditions
Alternatives
Maria Teresa Manuela is the Special Rapporteur on Prisons, Conditions of Detention and Policing in Africa. She shares insights into the African Commission’s efforts to uphold the rights of people deprived of their liberty.
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.
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.
Crises
Pre-trial detention
Asia
Foreign prisoners
Access to legal rights
Material conditions
Facilities
Torture
Violence
Social ties
Russia
Russia is holding an estimated 16,000 civilians in arbitrary detention at 180 separate facilities. Taganrog was the most notorious.
Cameroon: still falling short
Interview
Africa
Access to legal rights
Justice
Death penalty
Cameroon
Access to justice is hindered. There is no mechanism to monitor prisons, and the death penalty remains part of the penal code. Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture in Cameroon is campaigning on all these fronts.
North America
Access to legal rights
Social ties
Canada
It’s election day at prisons and jails across the country, and as incarcerated people cast their ballots behind bars, a Canadian Senator is trying to break down barriers so they can make an informed choice.