Suicide
North America
Mental health
Suicide
Death penalty
United States
A man convicted of murder in Bay County who was sitting on death row has committed suicide in prison.
Europe
Mental health
Suicide
Overcrowding
Violence
Netherlands
A recent investigation among 350 employees working directly with people in prison in the Dutch prison system reveals widespread violence and high work pressure, prompting concerns about staff retention.
Middle East
Foreign prisoners
Health
Mental health
Suicide
Lebanon
The suicide of a Syrian man in Lebanon’s Roumieh Central Prison has cast a new light on the dire conditions inside the country’s prisons, particularly medical neglect and the delay of trials.
Europe
Mental health
Suicide
Overcrowding
Italy
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni looks set to send more people to jail with her law-and-order crackdown — but the country’s prisons are in no fit state to take more incarcerated people.
North America
Pre-trial detention
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Suicide
Overcrowding
Alternatives
United States
Another person has died in Los Angeles County Jails, bringing the county’s number of deaths this year to a staggering 22. LA jails have totaled 99 deaths since the start of 2023.
Women
Oceania
Discipline
Mental health
Material conditions
Suicide
Social ties
Australia
A former incarcerated person says she documented seven suicide attempts in just four weeks inside Victoria’s maximum security women’s prison, amid a wave of lockdowns triggered by staff shortages.
Women
Middle East
Suicide
Violence
Saudi Arabia
Girls and young women describe facing flogging and abuse in so-called “care homes” after arguing with their fathers or husbands.
Asia
Mental health
Suicide
Violence
Armenia
An incarcerated person has died by suicide at Armenia’s Nubarashen correctional facility. According to the penitentiary service, 54-year-old Z.H. hanged himself on 20 April. This marks the 10th death and the 5th suicide in Armenian prisons within the first four months of this year.
Middle East
Justice
Health
Suicide
Torture
Social ties
Egypt
A 29-year-old man committed suicide in his cell at Badr 3 Prison, located east of Cairo, the Shehab Centre for Human Rights said. The rights group added that the suicide took place after a series of violations carried out by the prison’s administration against the man, identified as Alaa Jamal.
Pre-trial detention
Europe
Mental health
Suicide
United Kingdom
Jordan Burns made several attempts to take his own life during 10 months as an unconvicted person on remand at Scotland’s HMP Addiewell before he suffered an overdose whilst alone in his cell. His grieving mother Janice is suing the prison so it “never happens again”.
Pre-trial detention
Oceania
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Suicide
Overcrowding
Activities
Social ties
Australia
Incarcerated people at a men’s remand prison have limited access to fresh air, excessive lockdowns and unhygienic cells infested with pests, a scathing report from a jails’ watchdog says.
Asia
Health
Mental health
Suicide
Armenia
Eight people have died in penitentiaries in the first quarter of 2025, with half of the cases resulting from suicide. In comparison, 2024 saw 12 deaths in prisons, all officially classified as natural causes, with ten occurring in civilian hospitals, according to the Penitentiary Service.
Europe
Mental health
Suicide
Overcrowding
Alternatives
Rehabilitation
Italy
There have been 24 suicides in Italy’s prisons so far this year after three imprisoned people took their own lives in jails in Avellino, Genoa and Trieste, penitentiary police union SPP said. The union said that, at this rate, last year’s record of 91 prison suicides will be broken in 2025.
Europe
Suicide
Overcrowding
Violence
Activities
United Kingdom
Overcrowding is a trigger for poor performances in prisons, says a research document produced by the Institute for Government. It calls for increased education and training for imprisoned people, and the introduction of a minimum standard of provision.
Women
Europe
Justice
Mental health
Suicide
United Kingdom
A new HM Inspectorate of Prisons report on HMP Styal found that 39 women had been sent to the prison due to their “acute vulnerabilities and the absence of specialised support in the community.”
Pre-trial detention
Europe
Material conditions
Suicide
Overcrowding
Italy
Italy’s chronically packed prisons had a population of 62,132 imprisoned people in February compared to the 46.910 places available, with an average overcrowding rate of 132.4%, according to data released by the guarantors of the rights of persons deprived of their personal freedom.
Europe
Mental health
Drugs
Material conditions
Suicide
Overcrowding
Rehabilitation
Malta
Malta’s prison boss does not agree with solitary confinement and would abolish it altogether if he had the power to change the law. Christopher Siegersma said that no imprisoned people are serving time in solitary confinement as he does not believe it is effective.
Women
Europe
Mental health
Suicide
Violence
United Kingdom
Prison is not a place of safety. For women especially, it is a place of chaos and trauma where vulnerable people struggle to maintain their dignity, let alone sanity.
United Kingdom: ‘I stole a mobile phone almost 20 years ago – I’ve spent half my life in prison’
News
Europe
Long-term prisoners
Justice
Mental health
Suicide
Violence
United Kingdom
A father who stole a mobile phone when he was in the grips of a drug addiction is still languishing in prison almost 20 years later under an “inhumane” indefinite jail term.
Europe
Justice
Health
Mental health
Suicide
Overcrowding
United Kingdom
Four in ten incarcerated people who took their own lives in custody were denied adequate healthcare before their deaths, according to damning new figures exposing the scale of neglect inside Britain’s overcrowded prisons.