Material conditions
Africa
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Nigeria
Kala Daniel found himself trapped in awaiting trial for six long months in a Nigerian correctional centre. Initially healthy, Daniel began serious coughing within weeks of his incarceration, only to later learn that he had contracted tuberculosis.
Europe
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Violence
Belgium
The prison oversight commission has declared the Nivelles prison no longer compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights due to overcrowding and poor conditions.
United States: mystery meat and maggot-infested produce, the disturbing reality of US prison food
News
America
Health
Material conditions
Violence
United States
In Eating Behind Bars, author Leslie Soble details how food is used to further punish incarcerated people in the US. At best you get “mystery meat”. Or “sour-smelling heaps” of macaroni. In the worst cases, it’s undercooked chicken, spoiled milk and maggot-infested produce.
America
Material conditions
Overcrowding
United States
Budget analysts say staff shortages, parole bottlenecks and limited capacity will stress DOC beyond limits by 2026.
Women
Europe
Health
Material conditions
United Kingdom
Across the world, incarcerated pregnant women are often held in deplorable conditions, leading some to miscarry or give birth alone inside a cell, say campaigners.
Asia
Health
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
Activities
Nepal
Udayapur District Prison, built to accommodate just 50 incarcerated people, is currently housing more than four times its capacity, creating serious management and safety challenges.
America
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
United States
The escape of three incarcerated persons from the St. Landry Parish Jail was the result of long-neglected structural failures. The sheriff described the facility as “severely overcrowded” and suffering from years of neglect, moisture damage and unresolved maintenance issues.
North America
Pre-trial detention
Women
Mental health
Drugs
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Canada
Ontario jails are heading toward a record year for overcrowding, remand populations and lockdowns just as politicians debate bail reforms that could lead to a further influx of accused behind bars, data analyzed by CBC News reveals.
Crises
Middle East
Health
Material conditions
Torture
Syria
Syria’s missing persons body is reviewing the Damascus Dossier as families say they have blindsided with details of relatives’ fates leaked without permission.
Crises
Middle East
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
Israel
Aspects of daily life behind bars include cells so crowded that incarcerated people cannot move without climbing over one another, and others sleeping on thin mattresses on the floor for weeks or months.
Africa
Minors
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Rehabilitation
South Sudan
The revelations emerged after an inspection by the South Sudan’s Western Equatoria State Assembly’s Committee on Gender, Child, Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, exposing what legislators describe as an unfolding humanitarian crisis inside the facility.
Africa
Women
Minors
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Rehabilitation
Zimbabwe
Twenty-four babies are currently living at Chikurubi Female Prison, the highest number recorded since the institution was built in 1970.
Europe
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
Violence
Ireland
The Irish Prison Service is fighting a “losing battle” against overcrowding, with the current system at “breaking point”, penal reformers have said.
Locking up the opposition
Analysis
Africa
America
Asia
Europe
LGBTQI
Access to legal rights
Justice
Material conditions
Torture
In this long-format article, Prison Insider explores how defending human rights can become a reason for incarceration, in every part of the world.
Belarus: "worms instead of meat", female ex-political prisoners describe "nightmare' penal system"
News
Crises
Women
Europe
Mental health
Material conditions
Torture
Work
Belarus
Long considered one of Europe’s most repressive states, conditions in Belarus have become even harsher since a brutal security crackdown that followed a disputed presidential election in 2020.
United States: Los Angeles County criticized for unsafe staffing levels at reopened juvenile hall
News
North America
Minors
Material conditions
Overcrowding
United States
Court testimony reveals that youth are again urinating in bags and gloves due to inadequate overnight staffing at Barry J. Nidorf.
Central America and the Caribbean
Women
Access to legal rights
Drugs
Material conditions
Torture
Violence
Social ties
El Salvador
Former incarcerated people recount arbitrary arrests and months of torture, while families of current ones demand answers.
Crises
Women
Europe
Health
Material conditions
Violence
Social ties
Belarus
A former political prisoner, who was recently released, spoke about the detention conditions. She also discussed the pressure faced by political prisoners, healthcare in the penal colony, and the reason behind the disappearance of historical books from the library.
North America
Health
Material conditions
Facilities
United States
A lawsuit challenging extreme heat in a Florida prison collected temperature readings during the summer. It found brutal heat persisted day and night.
Middle East
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Iran
Extended water cuts at Fashafoyeh Prison in Tehran have created several health problems for incarcerated people as the capital implements water rationing, a human rights organization reported.
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.
Europe
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Belgium
Bunk beds instead of single beds are being touted as the solution to prison overcrowding in Haren prison, on the outskirts of Brussels.
Crises
Central America and the Caribbean
Access to legal rights
Health
Material conditions
Torture
El Salvador
A report released by human rights groups determined that the treatment of more than 200 Venezuelan migrants imprisoned in El Salvador at the request of the U.S. amounted to arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance under international law.