Overcrowding
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.
Asia
Elderly prisoners
Europe
Minors
Health
Overcrowding
Turkey
As of February, 407,266 people are incarcerated in 403 prisons, which have a combined official capacity of 304,956, according to CİSST.
Asia
Overcrowding
Alternatives
Sri Lanka
Minister of National Integration and Justice, Harshana Nanayakkara, announced that a new Act enabling selected incarcerated people to be placed under house arrest through electronic monitoring is being drafted to address severe prison overcrowding in the country.
Pre-trial detention
Women
Asia
Access to legal rights
Overcrowding
Death penalty
Sri Lanka
The emergency has been caused by a lack of adequate facilities and the extensive use of preventive detention pending trial. There are at least 40,000 people in prison on the island in facilities with a total capacity of only 10,500 places.
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.
America
Pre-trial detention
Women
Mental health
Drugs
Overcrowding
Argentina
Prison population grew 7.1% in 2024, with property crimes and short sentences driving overcrowding; five provinces exceed the national incarceration average, authorities warn that tougher laws and short sentences are fuelling sustained rise in numbers.
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.
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.
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
Pre-trial detention
Access to legal rights
Overcrowding
Nigeria
Fresh questions are being raised about Nigeria’s prison pardon and decongestion process following a recent exercise by the Lagos State Judiciary, as lawyers point to missing incarcerated people files, unexplained inclusions and exclusions, and allegations of irregular influence.
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.
Ecuador: breaking down the prison crisis
Interview
America
Crises
Health
Drugs
Overcrowding
Torture
Violence
Social ties
Ecuador
Ecuador is facing a penitentiary crisis marked by massacres and the militarisation of its prison system, a combination that has brought the institution to its breaking point. The consequences are disastrous, both within and outside of prisons. Interview.
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.
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”.