Material conditions
Europe
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Violence
France
As of February 1, French prisons were housing more than 86,000 incarcerated people, despite having a capacity of around 63,000. This brought the occupancy rate to 136.9%. Overcrowding forced 6,596 imprisoned people to sleep on mattresses on the floor.
America
Minors
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Haiti
The conditions of detention are marked by serious deficiencies in sanitation, food, and social services, and a large and vulnerable prison population.
Asia
Mental health
Material conditions
Torture
Social ties
Azerbaijan
Several incarcerated journalists from the Azerbaijani independent media outlet Meydan TV have announced that they will not see their visiting relatives in protest against the installation of a glass partition in visitation rooms.
Women
Asia
Health
Material conditions
Myanmar (Burma)
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) reported that thousands of female political detainees across Myanmar are suffering from serious menstrual disorders and reproductive health complications.
Europe
Foreign prisoners
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
Belgium
Renting capacity abroad is one of the avenues the Belgian government is exploring to tackle overcrowding in the country’s prisons. Exploratory visits have already taken place to Kosovo and Albania.
Gabon: existing and surviving in prison
Interview
Africa
Pre-trial detention
Access to legal rights
Justice
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Gabon has a particularly high rate of incarceration: 226 people are imprisoned per 100,000 inhabitants. Overcrowding is a flagrant issue, and the living conditions are considered extremely concerning. SOS Prisonniers Gabon provides an overview.
Asia
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Torture
Social ties
Pakistan
Afghans recently returned from Pakistan say they were transferred to harsh and inhumane prison conditions after being detained by Pakistani police. The joy of returning home has been overshadowed by their experience of arrest, imprisonment and torture.
Women
Mental health
Material conditions
Social ties
United States
The conditions at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility are akin to solitary confinement, local experts say — an apparent violation of state law.
Europe
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Greece
Health authorities in Magnesia have been placed on alert following the confirmation of tuberculosis cases among incarcerated people at Kassaveteia prison.
Asia
Material conditions
Torture
Social ties
United Arab Emirates
It’s been more than six years since Ali Hassan Ali Bakhtiyan was released from a secret prison run by the United Arab Emirates in eastern Yemen’s Hadramout Governorate, but he cannot forget the horrors he underwent during his more than two years in detention.
United States: "recurring failures", system threaten health, safety of staff and incarcerated people
News
America
Health
Material conditions
United States
A state report cites unsafe conditions and operational failures that force correctional officers into prolonged shifts and hazardous working environments.
Europe
Foreign prisoners
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Violence
Cyprus
A total of 164 foreign nationals have been deported from detention centres and the central prisons in Cyprus between December 10 and January 20, according to a report released by the justice ministry. Overall, 643 foreign nationals have left the country in a 45-day period.
Who makes the rules in prison?
Analysis
Europe
Justice
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
Alternatives
The public has numerous preconceived assertions surrounding prison. One in particular comes up often: that incarcerated people call the shots on the inside. Does this perception reflect the reality in Europe? Read on to find the answer in the last piece of our fact-checking series.
Europe
Mental health
Drugs
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Violence
United Kingdom
An unannounced inspection to a prison found it was being targeted by organised crime gangs. It found that drones were being used to get large quantities of drugs and contraband into the prison.
America
Drugs
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Torture
Activities
Social ties
El Salvador
El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot) has become a symbol of President Nayib Bukele’s government propaganda. Folha spent two hours inside the prison complex, which houses around 20,000 incarcerated people—mostly gang members—under extreme conditions.
Europe
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
Violence
Activities
Social ties
Ireland
An incarcerated man left without a toothbrush or toothpaste for months, a sports hall used for spin-bike classes for officers but closed to imprisoned people, and a violent incident in a shared cell leaving a man with life-changing injuries were among concerns noted by inspectors at Cork Prison.
Africa
Justice
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
South Sudan
A presidential pardon initiative intended as a gesture of reconciliation has been manipulated into a pay-for-freedom scheme at Juba Central Prison.
Europe
Access to legal rights
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Violence
Social ties
Ireland
An unannounced inspection of Mountjoy Prison found that incarcerated people were being subjected to “degrading treatment” in conditions that did not meet minimum human rights standards.
Europe
Justice
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Violence
Ireland
The State’s human rights commission and the prisons’ inspector are to discuss legal concerns over potential breaches of European laws caused by the prison overcrowding crisis.
Europe
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Ireland
Ireland’s chief prison inspector says more than 600 people in jails are forced to sleep on mattresses on the floor in conditions that are “inhuman and degrading”.