Justice
Europe
Justice
Mental health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Ireland
The State has failed to address the “degrading” conditions in which incarcerated people live in the country’s prisons and detention centres, according to an EU watchdog.
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).
The cost of incarceration (3/6)
Testimonial
America
Europe
Justice
Mental health
Material conditions
Social ties
Rehabilitation
The State deprives people of their freedom and ignores everything else. It is the relatives — most often women — who bear the costs of imprisonment and support those in prison, while trying to keep life going outside.
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.
Pre-trial detention
Europe
Justice
Overcrowding
Ireland
Data on the accommodation of people on remand in prison, shows that 84 unconvicted men in Cork were sharing cells with convicted ones on one day last month.
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.
Europe
Justice
Facilities
Overcrowding
Alternatives
Rehabilitation
Portugal
In the report accompanying the proposed State Budget for 2026 (OE2026), submitted to Parliament by the Minister of Finance, the Ministry of Justice (MJ) sets a target of a 5% increase in prison spaces compared to the previous year.
Africa
Minors
Justice
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
Violence
Nigeria
A Lagos-based non-governmental organisation, Zarephath Aid (ZA), has called for urgent reforms in Nigeria’s justice sector, urging the judiciary and government agencies to go beyond speeches and take decisive steps to decongest correctional facilities, enforce child rights, and curb police excesses…
North America
Justice
Drugs
Material conditions
Facilities
Violence
United States
Amid a decade-long court battle, control of Hinds County’s Raymond Detention Center — severely understaffed and rife with violence, dysfunction and inhumane conditions — is now under the control of a court-appointed administrator.
Crises
North America
Justice
Social ties
United States
Staffing shortages at New York prisons have worsened, morale among guards remains low and the lives of incarcerated people are still disrupted six months after a wildcat prison strike ended.
Guantánamo: what torture does to people
Testimonial
North America
Justice
Death penalty
Torture
United States
Mohamedou Ould Slahi spent 14 years in Guantánamo, enduring torture, humiliation and degrading treatment. He came to share his story at Concertina alongside Sylvain Savolainen, a lawyer who became his friend.
Africa
Justice
Health
Material conditions
Ethiopia
A cross section of Nigerians whose relatives are in Kaliti Prison, Ethiopia, have appealed to the Federal Government to intervene to secure the release or transfer of their loved ones.
The shadow of colonialism (I)
Analysis
Thematic paper
Africa
America
North America
Central America and the Caribbean
South America
Asia
Justice
Prison Insider is dedicating a long-format, three-part article to the colonial heritage of prison systems. Part one: the origin of a system.
North America
Justice
Violence
United States
Four prison guards pleaded guilty in the death of a black incarcerated man whose brutal beating at an upstate New York prison was captured on bodycam videos.
North America
Justice
Rehabilitation
United States
Encouraged by Trump, some lawmakers are championing cash bail, undercutting reforms that advocates say made the system fairer for poor people.
North America
Women
Justice
Mental health
Violence
United States
Seven women filed federal lawsuits against correctional officers and internal investigators at Logan Correctional Center. Their attorney Elizabeth Payne calls the pattern of sexual abuse “an epidemic.”