Women
Iran: deaths of incarcerated people reignite calls for closure of "uninhabitable" women's prison
News
Women
Middle East
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Iran
In a desert outside Iran’s capital, Tehran, lies one of the largest women’s prisons in the world. Several thousand women are believed to be incarcerated in Qarchak Prison, which is notorious for severe overcrowding, poor sanitation, and inadequate medical care.
Pre-trial detention
Women
Asia
Foreign prisoners
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Violence
Rehabilitation
India
Karnataka’s prisons continue to face overcrowding. Of the total population, over 76% are undertrials, reflecting the prolonged pendency of criminal cases and slow judicial processes.
Crises
Women
Middle East
Health
Material conditions
Social ties
Iran
Political prisoner Mehdi Farahi began a hunger strike to protest the death of a female political prisoner and conditions for women at Qarchak Prison.
United Kingdom: women's prison in South Gloucestershire has "worst rate of violence against staff"
News
Women
Europe
Mental health
Violence
United Kingdom
HMP Eastwood Park has the worst rate of violence against staff of any women’s prison in the country, a new report has found. Officials visited the prison in South Gloucestershire for a surprise inspection in June and July, with attacks on staff raised as one area of concern.
North America
Women
Health
United States
It truly is a man’s world, even in a women’s prison. In an environment where nothing is private, even the most basic aspects of personal care become luxuries. For incarcerated women, managing a menstrual cycle is not just a routine part of life — it is often a monumental struggle.
Crises
South America
Women
Minors
Health
Torture
Violence
Venezuela
The United Nations released a report exposing Venezuela’s deepening rights abuses. Authorities hold 823 political prisoners, including about 100 women and nearly 90 foreign nationals.
North America
Women
Material conditions
Overcrowding
United States
With Vermont’s prisons reaching capacities they haven’t hit since the onset of COVID-19, Vermont Department of Corrections officials are grappling with how to handle the influx of people incarcerated.
North America
Women
Justice
Mental health
Violence
United States
Seven women filed federal lawsuits against correctional officers and internal investigators at Logan Correctional Center. Their attorney Elizabeth Payne calls the pattern of sexual abuse “an epidemic.”
North America
Women
Health
Material conditions
United States
The Georgia Department of Corrections has started an investigation after Sheqweetta Vaughan, an incarcerated woman serving a two-year sentence at Lee Arrendale State Prison, was found dead in her single-person cell.
Women
Europe
Mental health
Suicide
Violence
United Kingdom
The number of self-harm incidents at a women’s prison in Surrey has increased by nearly 20% in a year, a report has found. The Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) said a high turnover of incarcerated people at HMP Send had contributed to a number of “concerning trends”.
Crises
Women
Elderly prisoners
Minors
Middle East
Access to legal rights
Social ties
Israel
Only one in four incarcerated person from Gaza are identified as fighters by Israel’s military intelligence, classified data indicates, with civilians making up the vast majority of Palestinians held without charge or trial in abusive prisons.
Women
Minors
Middle East
Health
Material conditions
Facilities
Social ties
Iran
The incident on August 18 marked the latest decline in conditions at a prison activists have long described as a “cemetery,” a place where Iran sends its most marginalized women to vanish from public life.
North America
Women
Justice
Health
Facilities
United States
A group of incarcerated people at Michigan’s only women’s prison filed a class action lawsuit against the state, claiming they were exposed to toxic black mold for years.
Women
Europe
Justice
United Kingdom
Many have welcomed the Government’s announcement that it will decriminalise rough sleeping. However, punishment for being homeless, using Anti-Social Behaviour Injunctions (ASBI) is set to continue and to be widened with new Respect Orders introduced in the Crime and Policing Bill.
Women
Europe
Health
Material conditions
Facilities
Cyprus
The prisons department sought to rubbish allegations of unhygienic conditions for incarcerated people – including tainted food and unclean showers – attributing such claims to “ulterior motives”.
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.