Europe
Women
Europe
Mental health
Violence
United Kingdom
Women’s prisons are so dangerous they are actually “incapable” of adequate reform according to new research which examines recent deaths in the women’s estate.
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.
Wrinkles and punishment
Analysis
Inside Outside
Africa
North America
South America
Asia
Elderly prisoners
Europe
Middle East
Prison Insider, represented by Clara Grisot, contributed twelve compositions to the book InsideOutside to articulate, in a few words, the current challenges of prison life. Eleventh piece: ageing prison population.
Pre-trial detention
Asia
Europe
Health
Overcrowding
Armenia
Human rights activists blamed the Armenian law-enforcement and health authorities for a near doubling of incarcerated people deaths at the country’s prisons recorded this year.
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.
Türkiye: mother incarcerated in Gülen case with 1-year-old by her side despite law on recent mothers
News
Women
Asia
Europe
Minors
Access to legal rights
Turkey
Turkish authorities have jailed a woman accompanied by her 1-year-old infant as part of an investigation into the Gülen movement despite the fact that the law allows courts to postpone sentences for women who gave birth within the past 18 months.
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
Minors
Access to legal rights
Health
Torture
Social ties
Turkey
At least 2,651 people were subjected to ill-treatment during detentions at 191 peaceful protests, including 27 children and 46 journalists, according to the Human Rights Association.
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.
Women
Europe
Mental health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Alternatives
Rehabilitation
Ireland
Mark Kelly said that problems are getting steadily worse, and Ireland is following the same pattern of “chronically overcrowded” prisons seen in England and Wales.
Elderly prisoners
Europe
Health
Mental health
Drugs
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Ireland
There were 31 deaths in custody in 2024, the highest number since the office of the Inspector of Prisons was established in 2012.
Europe
Foreign prisoners
Overcrowding
United Kingdom
Breakdowns in communications, staffing and security issues show how years of neglect have pushed jails to breaking point.
Europe
Mental health
Drugs
Material conditions
Suicide
United Kingdom
Forest Bank prison in Salford has seen 27 deaths in just five years, raising serious questions about the safety and care of incarcerated people. Paul Britton reports.
Women
Europe
Health
Mental health
Suicide
Violence
United Kingdom
The number of people dying in prisons in Wales and England has reached its highest total for a 12-month period this century, figures show.
Pre-trial detention
Women
Europe
Minors
Foreign prisoners
LGBTQI
Access to legal rights
Overcrowding
Turkey
The number of incarcerated people in Türkiye’s prisons has reached 420,904. This marks a sevenfold increase from the 59,429 recorded in 2002, the year the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power.
The power of the group (1/6)
Testimonial
America
Europe
Access to legal rights
Torture
Violence
Social ties
Hearing the voices of relatives of incarcerated people in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, France, Mexico and the UK reveals one key finding: the group brings enough strength to build resistance. Coming together offers a space for dialogue, mutual support, and the ability to build concrete responses to d…
The echo of violence (2/6)
Testimonial
America
Europe
Access to legal rights
Mental health
Violence
Social ties
How are the lives of relatives affected when someone they love is deprived of liberty? Feelings of powerlessness, dehumanisation, daily life disruption — prison affects not only the incarcerated people but also, often invisibly, those left on the outside.
The cost of incarceration (3/6)
Testimonial
America
Europe
Justice
Mental health
Material conditions
Social ties
Rehabilitation
The State deprives people of their freedom and ignores everything else. It is the relatives — most often women — who bear the costs of imprisonment and support those in prison, while trying to keep life going outside.
The mechanics of punishment (5/6)
Testimonial
America
Europe
Minors
Access to legal rights
Justice
Violence
Social ties
Alternatives
Prison is not only a place of punishment; it is also a reflection of social divides. Rather than repairing damage, it accentuates inequalities and perpetuates discrimination. To combat this, associations of relatives are establishing themselves as spaces of resistance.