Facilities
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.
Asia
Europe
Foreign prisoners
Facilities
Social ties
Russia
Speaking at a meeting of the Russian Ministry of Justice’s collegium, she highlighted frequent appeals from women from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan, who are seeking assistance in transferring their relatives to serve their sentences closer to home.
Women
Europe
Mental health
Facilities
Activities
Work
Luxembourg
A report of Luxembourg’s detention facilities shows that prison conditions “have improved” since the last report was published in 2018. But standards of prison conditions for women are “lower than that of men”, Ombudsman Claudine Konsbruck has said.
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
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.
Europe
Facilities
Violence
United Kingdom
Figures released by HM Prison and Probation Service showed that in 2025 there were 2,546 cell fires. A prison-by-prison breakdown showed that Sodexo-run Forest Bank had the most cell fires last year, with 94. It was followed by Woodhill (88), Lowdham Grange (78) and Swaleside (77).
Africa
Women
Minors
Facilities
Overcrowding
Zambia
Zambia Correctional Service Commissioner General, Fredrick Chilukutu, has disclosed that the country’s prison population has exceeded 28,000, far surpassing the facilities’ holding capacity of 12,000.
India: Telangana prisons see 12% rise in incarcerated people in 2025, cybercrime cases jump 135%
News
Women
Asia
Foreign prisoners
Health
Mental health
Drugs
Facilities
Overcrowding
India
Telangana prisons recorded 42,566 admissions in 2025, marking an 11.8% increase compared to the previous year, with sharp rises seen in cybercrime and drunk driving cases.
America
Elderly prisoners
Health
Facilities
Rehabilitation
United States
There are currently 2,149 incarcerated people aged 65 or older in the state, accounting for 6.7% of the state’s total prison population of 32,265, according to data from Jenni Riehle, the public information officer for the Department of Corrections.
Asia
Health
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
Activities
Nepal
Udayapur District Prison, built to accommodate just 50 incarcerated people, is currently housing more than four times its capacity, creating serious management and safety challenges.
America
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
United States
The escape of three incarcerated persons from the St. Landry Parish Jail was the result of long-neglected structural failures. The sheriff described the facility as “severely overcrowded” and suffering from years of neglect, moisture damage and unresolved maintenance issues.
Crises
Middle East
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
Israel
Aspects of daily life behind bars include cells so crowded that incarcerated people cannot move without climbing over one another, and others sleeping on thin mattresses on the floor for weeks or months.
Europe
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
Violence
Ireland
The Irish Prison Service is fighting a “losing battle” against overcrowding, with the current system at “breaking point”, penal reformers have said.
The shadow of colonialism (III)
Analysis
Africa
America
North America
Central America and the Caribbean
South America
Asia
Justice
Facilities
Prison Insider is dedicating a long-format, three-part article to the colonial heritage of prison systems. Part three: Prison, a registered design.
The shadow of colonialism (II)
Analysis
Africa
America
North America
Central America and the Caribbean
South America
Asia
Justice
Facilities
Prison Insider is dedicating a long-format, three-part article to the colonial heritage of prison systems. Part two: post-independence, a sense of unfinished business.
North America
Health
Material conditions
Facilities
United States
A lawsuit challenging extreme heat in a Florida prison collected temperature readings during the summer. It found brutal heat persisted day and night.
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.
Asia
Health
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
India
If anything, India should study the basic living standards in select foreign prisons and improve the domestic conditions. The jails that are there are almost impossible to expand.
Africa
Mental health
Material conditions
Facilities
Social ties
South Sudan
When traditional herbs failed to calm the turmoil in his mind, Samat Nyuk’s family felt they had no other option: they asked local authorities to detain their 33-year-old son.