Material conditions
Women
Asia
Minors
Access to legal rights
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Torture
Social ties
Pakistan
Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights expressed serious concerns over the lack of basic facilities and overcrowded conditions in jails and the delay in provision of justice.
Crises
Middle East
Access to legal rights
Health
Material conditions
Torture
Violence
Religion
Israel
The Prisoners’ and Freed Prisoners’ Affairs Authority has condemned the “tragic” conditions faced by detained Palestinian in Shatta prison. The authority described a litany of human rights violations, including brutal beatings, frequent use of tear gas, and inadequate food provisions.
Africa
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Activities
Work
Ghana
Speaking before Parliament’s Appointments Committee on Monday, February 25, 2025, Mr Terlabi described the current feeding arrangement, where incarcerated people receive GH¢1.80 worth of food per day as inadequate.
Europe
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
Turkey
As the Turkish government’s oppression has been intensifying, the number of incarcerated people has increased by 50,000 in the last six months in the country.
Dominican Republic: officials cram thousands of people facing no charges into overcrowded prisons
News
Central America and the Caribbean
Pre-trial detention
Long-term prisoners
Access to legal rights
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Dominican Republic
They’re known as “frog men,” incarcerated people who are forced to sleep on prison floors, often next to overflowing toilets or holes in the ground that serve as one. Thousands of them are crammed into the country’s severely overcrowded prisons, some operating at seven times their capacity.
Women
Asia
Minors
Foreign prisoners
Access to legal rights
Justice
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Pakistan
Punjab Home Department has taken a commendable step by amending the 125-year-old prison rules under the vision of Punjab’s chief minister for comprehensive jail reforms. According to the spokesperson, in the first phase, 138 jail rules were revised to meet modern standards.
Women
Europe
Mental health
Material conditions
Suicide
Social ties
United Kingdom
A lack of basic care lies behind a surge in the rate of self-harm in women’s prisons, according to a thematic report by the Chief Inspector of Prisons, Charlie Taylor. In the report, Taylor describes a service that is failing and describes the findings as “deeply depressing”.
Central America and the Caribbean
Health
Material conditions
Trinidad & Tobago
The Prison Officers’ Association (POA) is demanding immediate government intervention, following the disappearance of a water pump from the Maximum Security Prison (MSP), Arouca, and a pigeon infestation at the Eastern Correctional Rehabilitation Centre (ECRC) in Santa Rosa.
Europe
Justice
Health
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
United Kingdom
The governor of Barlinnie says he would “struggle” to survive life inside his own overcrowded prison. Michael Stoney described Scotland’s largest jail as a “pressure cooker” and said new early release laws were necessary for staff and incarcerated people.
Oceania
Material conditions
Rehabilitation
Work
New Zealand
Incarcerated people’ pay rates need to be increased, say reform advocates, who have labelled the current rates of 20 to 60 cents an hour as practically slave labour. The rates have not been touched for 20 years.
Europe
LGBTQI
Access to legal rights
Material conditions
Ireland
The Irish Prison Service (IPS)’s long-awaited policy guidance on the appropriate housing of trans people in prison has been delayed further, as officials struggle to identify a suitable model.
North America
LGBTQI
Justice
Mental health
Material conditions
United States
A Bureau of Prisons policy that called on transgender women in federal prisons to hand over any female-identifying clothing and other commissary items, like women’s razors and hair care, is on hold at at least one federal prison in Texas.
Crises
Europe
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Ireland
The prison, which has a capacity of 296, had 372 people in custody yesterday, representing 126% capacity. It has broken its own overcrowding record, with 76 person in custody currently sleeping on mattresses on the floor due to a lack of bed space.
Europe
Justice
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Violence
United Kingdom
Complaints to the ombudsman in the year ending March 2024 - a period during which the Tories freed thousands of incarcerated people early to avoid running out of space—hit 4,575, the highest number since before the pandemic.
Women
Europe
Foreign prisoners
Justice
Health
Drugs
Material conditions
Suicide
Violence
Malta
Alex Dalli’s prison degraded incarcerated people and subjected them to pervasive intimidation and fear, with one person describing the place as a ‘factory of evil’, a new Ombudsman investigation has found.
Crises
Europe
Long-term prisoners
Mental health
Material conditions
United Kingdom
New data claims that imprisoned people and staff at Channings Wood Prison near Newton Abbot are being failed by a prison system in crisis.
Europe
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Social ties
Work
United Kingdom
I was one of a group of Just Stop Oil activists given the longest-ever UK sentences for peaceful protest after blocking a motorway. Six months into my incarceration, this is what I have learned.
Crises
Minors
Middle East
Mental health
Material conditions
Violence
Iran
A teenage girl arrested this autumn for taking photos at a government event in Ahvaz spent over three weeks in detention, including 15 days in solitary confinement, IranWire has learned.
Asia
Foreign prisoners
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Social ties
Thailand
The ex-soldier, who has remained anonymous, has exposed the inhumane conditions he witnessed after sneaking a camera inside the jail. The 29-year-old said he was held in two police cells and a Bangkok deportation centre for 15 days.
Central America and the Caribbean
Access to legal rights
Justice
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
Social ties
Jamaica
Tesha Miller, the alleged leader of the Clansman Gang, is among 16 imprisoned people suing the Government over conditions at the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre, the country’s main prison.
Crises
Middle East
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
Death penalty
Torture
Social ties
Syria
From the Raid Department that falls under the Military Security’s Branch 215—commonly referred to as the “Branch of Death”— Asharq Al-Awsat began its tour of the prisons of the ousted Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad.
Europe
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Violence
Alternatives
Switzerland
The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) has raised concerns about police practices and prison overcrowding in western Switzerland, citing “repeated allegations of physical mistreatment and excessive use of force” against people in custody.