Access to legal rights
Europe
Long-term prisoners
Access to legal rights
Justice
Mental health
Suicide
Alternatives
United Kingdom
A United Nations torture tsar has said British incarcerated people trapped on indefinite jail terms are probably “being detained arbitrarily” after The Independent revealed six in 10 are being blocked from moving to open jails.
United States: health care is key for youths getting out of prison. A new law helps them get it
News
North America
Minors
Access to legal rights
Health
Mental health
Drugs
Rehabilitation
United States
Valentino was given his birth certificate, his Social Security card, a T-shirt, and khaki pants when he was released from a Texas prison in 2019 at the age of 21. But he didn’t have health insurance, mental health medications, or access to a doctor, he said.
Africa
Pre-trial detention
Access to legal rights
Nigeria
The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) says over 65 per cent of incarcerated people are currently awaiting trial in correctional centers across the country. Afam Osigwe, president of the NBA, revealed this at the national executive council meeting of the association in Akure.
Culture
North America
Elderly prisoners
Access to legal rights
Health
Social ties
Rehabilitation
Work
United States
Following decades of mass incarceration,the proportion of older people in prison has increased since the early 1990s. Nearly a quarter of people behind bars in federal and state prisons are over age 50. That’s five times the proportion of the prison population in 1991.
North America
Women
LGBTQI
Access to legal rights
Health
Violence
United States
Among the dozens of executive orders that President Donald Trump signed on his first day in office for his second term, one targets transgender people incarcerated in the federal prison system.
North America
Access to legal rights
Justice
Violence
United States
State Sen. Julia C. Salazar has proposed a series of bills that seek to make it easier to discipline or fire correction officers who are found to have engaged in misconduct, including using excessive force, as well as to provide greater independent oversight of state prisons.
Pre-trial detention
Women
Europe
Foreign prisoners
Access to legal rights
Suicide
Luxembourg
There are 260 people, including 11 women, currently in pre-trial detention in Luxembourg, a number that “represents 46% of the total prison population,” the ministry told Contacto.
Central America and the Caribbean
Access to legal rights
Justice
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
Social ties
Jamaica
Tesha Miller, the alleged leader of the Clansman Gang, is among 16 imprisoned people suing the Government over conditions at the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre, the country’s main prison.
Oceania
Access to legal rights
Mental health
Facilities
Overcrowding
Australia
The Northern Territory’s Anti-Discrimination Commissioner has warned the government could be at risk of breaching an international human rights agreement on torture after closing a specialised facility for mentally ill and disabled imprisoned people.
Crises
Middle East
Access to legal rights
Justice
Violence
Israel
Currently, around 6,800 Palestinians are being held by Israel without standard trials, according to numbers provided by the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) and Hamoked.
Crises
Middle East
Access to legal rights
Health
Suicide
Iran
A former Iranian bodybuilding champion imprisoned in Tehran’s Evin prison attempted suicide. The act of protest was in response to what he described as inadequate medical care for his deteriorating health conditions.
Crises
Asia
Access to legal rights
Health
Material conditions
Facilities
Torture
Social ties
Russia
What was once a detention centre for juveniles and women with children, Detention Centre No. 2, or SIZO-2, in Taganrog has for over two and a half years been used to detain captured Ukrainians. The facility has become notorious for inhumane conditions.
Europe
Long-term prisoners
Access to legal rights
Justice
Torture
United Kingdom
An incarcerated person who brought a legal challenge in April 2023 alleging he had been held in solitary confinement in England for more than two years has said he remains in isolation 20 months later because the judge has not given her decision in the case.
Middle East
Access to legal rights
Health
Material conditions
Social ties
Iran
As Iran grapples with widespread gas and electricity shortages, behind prison walls, incarcerated people face a desperate struggle against the winter cold. In northern Rasht’s Lakan Prison, 163 women huddle together, their collective breath the only source of warmth in cells left dark and freezing…
Asia
Access to legal rights
Protest
Torture
Violence
Armenia
A 29-year-old Iranian man was sentenced to three years and one month in prison in Armenia. According to IranWire sources, Mohammad Havashemzadeh, who had been detained during the 2022 protests in Iran, had only appeared in court once in the past five months to hear the charges against him.
Without a roof or a choice
Analysis
Thematic paper
North America
Europe
Long-term prisoners
Access to legal rights
Alternatives
Rehabilitation
People leaving prison, who are often in precarious situations and stigmatised, are hit hard by the housing crisis. But without a stable habitation, what hope do they have for building a future in society? Four articles explore the problems they face and offer ideas for reflection and solutions.
From a cell to the street
Analysis
North America
Europe
Access to legal rights
Justice
Rehabilitation
(1) Many people become stuck in the revolving door between the streets and prison. Countless incarcerated people agonise over their impending release when they have no habitation solution. All are put in a difficult situation and severely affected by the housing crisis.
Preparing for release
Analysis
North America
Europe
Long-term prisoners
Access to legal rights
Alternatives
Rehabilitation
(2) Release from prison does not occur the day the person walks out the prison door. It requires months of prior preparation. The transition to freedom and accessing habitation are part of a complex journey that includes tasks ranging from obtaining documents to restoring social rights.
The door opens
Analysis
North America
Europe
Long-term prisoners
Access to legal rights
Alternatives
Rehabilitation
(3) The day of release often arrives unexpectedly. For many prison leavers, it marks the beginning of a period of homelessness with occasional temporary solutions. Although systems exist to provide assistance in finding a place to stay, the spots come at a cost.
Prison under the skin
Analysis
North America
Europe
Long-term prisoners
Access to legal rights
Mental health
Rehabilitation
(4) Time spent in detention has a lasting impact on bodies and minds. It leaves persistent wounds and scars that make it harder to re-enter society and affect how people occupy their space.
Africa
Women
Minors
Access to legal rights
Overcrowding
Alternatives
Rehabilitation
Nigeria
Prison Fellowship Nigeria has officially launched its Restorative Justice, Rehabilitation, and Reintegration Project in Jos, the Plateau state capital. The initiative, designed to improve the criminal justice system through restorative practices, will span eight states.
Crises
Minors
Middle East
Access to legal rights
Health
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
Torture
Violence
Social ties
Israel
Thousands of Palestinians are currently deprived of their liberty by the Israeli authorities, a figure that has risen sharply in the last year. What is the current situation? Answers from the Palestinian association Addameer.
Africa
Crises
Asia
Europe
Access to legal rights
Justice
Mary Lawlor is the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders since 2020. She tells us how her work, despite its limits, can help them, and reflects on the criminalisation they face around the world.
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.