Women
America
Women
LGBTQI
Access to legal rights
Violence
United States
Handlang has been incarcerated in men’s prisons in Missouri for 11 years. While in prison, she says she has experienced a great deal of violence and discrimination.
Women
Europe
Health
Material conditions
United Kingdom
Across the world, incarcerated pregnant women are often held in deplorable conditions, leading some to miscarry or give birth alone inside a cell, say campaigners.
North America
Pre-trial detention
Women
Mental health
Drugs
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Canada
Ontario jails are heading toward a record year for overcrowding, remand populations and lockdowns just as politicians debate bail reforms that could lead to a further influx of accused behind bars, data analyzed by CBC News reveals.
Africa
Women
Minors
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Rehabilitation
Zimbabwe
Twenty-four babies are currently living at Chikurubi Female Prison, the highest number recorded since the institution was built in 1970.
Women
Europe
Mental health
Violence
United Kingdom
Women’s prisons are so dangerous they are actually “incapable” of adequate reform according to new research which examines recent deaths in the women’s estate.
Belarus: "worms instead of meat", female ex-political prisoners describe "nightmare' penal system"
News
Crises
Women
Europe
Mental health
Material conditions
Torture
Work
Belarus
Long considered one of Europe’s most repressive states, conditions in Belarus have become even harsher since a brutal security crackdown that followed a disputed presidential election in 2020.
Central America and the Caribbean
Women
Access to legal rights
Drugs
Material conditions
Torture
Violence
Social ties
El Salvador
Former incarcerated people recount arbitrary arrests and months of torture, while families of current ones demand answers.
Crises
Women
Europe
Health
Material conditions
Violence
Social ties
Belarus
A former political prisoner, who was recently released, spoke about the detention conditions. She also discussed the pressure faced by political prisoners, healthcare in the penal colony, and the reason behind the disappearance of historical books from the library.
Türkiye: mother incarcerated in Gülen case with 1-year-old by her side despite law on recent mothers
News
Women
Asia
Europe
Minors
Access to legal rights
Turkey
Turkish authorities have jailed a woman accompanied by her 1-year-old infant as part of an investigation into the Gülen movement despite the fact that the law allows courts to postpone sentences for women who gave birth within the past 18 months.
Pre-trial detention
Women
Asia
LGBTQI
Overcrowding
India
More than half a million Indians are in prisons across the country, three in four of them are undertrials, of whom nearly half are aged between 18 and 30 years.
Women
Europe
Mental health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Alternatives
Rehabilitation
Ireland
Mark Kelly said that problems are getting steadily worse, and Ireland is following the same pattern of “chronically overcrowded” prisons seen in England and Wales.
Côte d'Ivoire: prisons in 2025
Analysis
Africa
Pre-trial detention
Women
Minors
Foreign prisoners
LGBTQI
Long-term prisoners
Mental health
Material conditions
Facilities
Suicide
Torture
Activities
Social ties
Alternatives
Work
Côte d’Ivoire
All there is to know about Ivorian prisons in 2025. Key figures, life in detention, references: discover all the data gathered by Prison Insider.
Women
Europe
Health
Mental health
Suicide
Violence
United Kingdom
The number of people dying in prisons in Wales and England has reached its highest total for a 12-month period this century, figures show.
Burundi: forbidden to defend
Interview
Africa
Women
Minors
Justice
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Burundi
S. is a lawyer. She works to defend the rights of women and children. She was imprisoned from February 2023 to April 2024 because of her activism. We met her during her visit to Paris (France).
Pre-trial detention
Women
Europe
Minors
Foreign prisoners
LGBTQI
Access to legal rights
Overcrowding
Turkey
The number of incarcerated people in Türkiye’s prisons has reached 420,904. This marks a sevenfold increase from the 59,429 recorded in 2002, the year the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power.
Pre-trial detention
South America
Women
Minors
LGBTQI
Overcrowding
Argentina
The number of incarcerated people held in Argentina’s federal prisons rose 3.2 percent in September from December 2024, according to new data from the Attorney General’s Office.
North America
Women
Justice
Violence
United States
In Idaho prisons, more than two dozen women say guards prey on them with little fear of consequences — and those who speak up are often punished.
Crises
Women
Middle East
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Violence
Iran
A British incarcerated person in Iran has been moved from one prison to another following the deaths of fellow incarcerated people and hunger strikes.