News
Central America and the Caribbean
Foreign prisoners
Long-term prisoners
Access to legal rights
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Torture
Social ties
El Salvador
Hundreds of Venezuelans who were deported to El Salvador from the United States in recent days could face long or indefinite detention in a prison system rife with human rights abuses, according to attorneys and experts on the region.
Middle East
Foreign prisoners
Access to legal rights
Justice
Death penalty
United Arab Emirates
Twenty-five Indian nationals have been awarded the death sentence in the United Arab Emirates, the Union government told Parliament. However, the judgements were yet to be implemented. In all, 49 Indians have been sentenced to death in eight different countries, the government said.
Middle East
Long-term prisoners
Justice
Death penalty
Saudi Arabia
According to an AFP tally, more than 30 dissidents, many jailed for social media posts, have been released since December, in an apparent rollback of “bad laws” singled out by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler.
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
Material conditions
Social ties
Rehabilitation
United Kingdom
The Lilias Centre, in the Maryhill area of Glasgow, is part of a multimillion-pound experiment to tackle reoffending through rehabilitation. They give incarcerated women greater freedoms than traditional prisons and prepare them for life in the community after their sentence.
Asia
Health
Material conditions
Facilities
Protest
Overcrowding
Alternatives
Indonesia
President Prabowo Subianto’s pledge to construct a remote island prison for corrupt officials has been met with scepticism from experts, who argued that deeper structural reforms of the prison system were needed to address chronic overcrowding and underfunding.
Crises
South America
Foreign prisoners
Torture
Violence
Venezuela
Foro Penal, a Caracas-based legal assistance group suggests that nearly 1,000 people remain behind bars for political reasons in the South American country. That number includes foreign or dual nationals from about 13 different countries.
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.”
North America
Health
Material conditions
Violence
Social ties
Work
United States
Censorship, threats, and stints in solitary are among the acts of retaliation prison reporters face. Busby was sentenced to seventy-five years in 1999. Since then, he’s worked as a writer and journalist, including a stint as a staff reporter for the Texas prison newspaper The Echo.
Crises
Women
Middle East
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Torture
Violence
Work
Syria
Syrian journalist Hanin Gebran details the horrific conditions she endured in Assad’s prisons, shedding light on the gendered violence and torture faced by women journalists under the regime.
Women
Europe
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Violence
Social ties
United Kingdom
Most women in jail have been victims of more serious crimes than they themselves have committed, writes Andrea Coomber. We’ve known how to tackle this crisis for almost 20 years – now it’s time to put it into action.
Asia
Access to legal rights
Drugs
Material conditions
Death penalty
Torture
Activities
Social ties
Indonesia
Banished from the mainland, imprisoned people in Indonesia’s notorious Nusakambangan Island await news of their fate. The prison complex is home to a number of prisons of varying levels of security. The least volatile can expect to spend their days working in the fields and carving gems.
Africa
Material conditions
South Africa
The Department of Correctional Services has roped in nutrition experts to ensure that imprisoned people are fed a well-balanced meal.“These changes were carefully designed to align with dietary guidelines and ensure that the diverse dietary needs of the detained population are adequately met.”.
Crises
Europe
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
Ireland
Prison overcrowding is at another crisis point with all secure jails having reached, or exceeded, capacity for the first time. The number of incarcerated male in Mountjoy Prison, Dublin, has this week grown to 1,000 for the first time.
Europe
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Alternatives
Ireland
The deprivation of a person’s liberty alone is a core punitive sanction that has a long-lasting and often traumatic impact on an individual – the conditions and treatment experienced by individuals in prison should not be used as an additional punishment.
Women
Europe
Minors
Health
Mental health
Alternatives
United Kingdom
Pregnant women should not be sent to jail unless it is “unavoidable”, according to new sentencing guidelines. The guidance, published by the Sentencing Council for England and Wales, has been hailed by campaigners as a huge milestone.
United Kingdom: report critical of prison's 'limited' support for neurodiverse incarcerated people
News
Europe
Mental health
Rehabilitation
United Kingdom
An inspection of Jersey’s only prison has led to concerns being raised about a lack of support for neurodiverse incarcerated people. The report found that while 23 people had been identified as neurodivergent, few had care plans in place, and staff awareness of how to support them was “weak”.