Social ties
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.
Crises
Middle East
Violence
Social ties
Iran
Iranian authorities beat several political prisoners during the transfer of more than 600 detainees back to Evin Prison.
Crises
Middle East
Discipline
Health
Material conditions
Social ties
Egypt
Mohamed al-Beltagy launched an open-ended hunger strike in Badr 3 prison, slamming years of isolation, medical neglect, and systematic abuse of incarcerated people.
Pre-trial detention
Oceania
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Social ties
Rehabilitation
Australia
Western Australia’s Inspector of Custodial Services has called for an inquiry into the “entirely unacceptable” conditions at Hakea Prison.
Central America and the Caribbean
Foreign prisoners
Health
Torture
Violence
Social ties
El Salvador
Venezuela has announced an investigation into claims migrants sent to a prison in El Salvador from the US suffered human rights abuses.
Africa
Crises
Access to legal rights
Death penalty
Violence
Social ties
Congo - Kinshasa
The DRC has experienced a major political and economic crisis for decades, coupled with a civil war. What are the implications for detention? The League of Voluntary Sacrifices for Human Rights and the Environment (Ligue des Sacrifices Volontaires pour les Droits Humains et l’Environnement) answers…
Oceania
Justice
Social ties
Rehabilitation
Australia
Australia is confronting a significant issue with reincarceration, with a large number of individuals released from prison each year finding themselves back behind bars.
Middle East
Access to legal rights
Death penalty
Torture
Social ties
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Interior has reported that journalist Turki al-Jasser was executed after spending seven years in prison on charges of treason, collaboration with foreign entities, financing terrorism and jeopardising national security and unity.
Europe
Facilities
Social ties
Malta
There have been 100 people in prison and a total of 177 children under the age of fourteen who have made use of the visiting facility in Marsa intended for residents of the Corradino Correctional Facility to be able to meet with their children outside of the prison.
Zimbabwe: prison cells meant for 35 imprisoned people now holding over 80, Zimbabwe rights body says
News
Africa
Culture
Access to legal rights
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Violence
Social ties
Zimbabwe
Prison cells meant to hold 35 imprisoned people are now crammed with more than 80 people at Harare Remand Prison, where broken phone lines have cut off imprisoned people from families and two university students were barred from writing exams while in custody.
Pre-trial detention
Asia
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Violence
Social ties
Azerbaijan
Media reports regarding the harsh conditions in pretrial detention centres have intensified following the publication of letters from journalists and activists in prison.
Prison: a five-star hotel?
Analysis
Europe
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
Activities
Social ties
Work
Are prisons actually luxury hotels? In the first episode of our fact-checking series, Prison Insider responds by drawing on the daily reality of life in prisons.
Crises
Minors
Middle East
Drugs
Death penalty
Social ties
Iran
Iran executed at least 163 imprisoned people in May, marking a 143 percent increase from the 67 executions recorded in May 2024, according to a human rights organization.
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.
Middle East
Foreign prisoners
Justice
Material conditions
Social ties
Iran
Iran slammed France for filing a case against it at the International Court of Justice over the detention of two French nationals in conditions Paris denounced as inhumane. Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris have been able to receive only four consular visits during their three-year detention.
Crises
Asia
Health
Material conditions
Social ties
Myanmar (Burma)
The Political Prisoners Network Myanmar (PPNM) reported on 19 May that budget reductions in military-controlled prisons are worsening conditions for incarcerated people, with severe food shortages leading to rising malnutrition and health complications, particularly in Myingyan Prison.
El Salvador: anguished families are losing hope as they can’t reach loved ones sent to mega-prison
News
Crises
Central America and the Caribbean
Material conditions
Torture
Violence
Social ties
El Salvador
Carmen Bonilla has barely slept for nearly two months, her mind filled with terrifying thoughts about what might be happening to her son, whose dream to go to the United States for a better life has turned into a waking nightmare.
Crises
Women
Middle East
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Torture
Violence
Social ties
Religion
Iran
Blood runs down prison corridors. Sewage seeps beneath cell doors. Drugged women drift in and out of consciousness. The women’s ward of Sepidar prison, in southern Ahvaz, houses around 400 women, mostly Arab, denied even the most basic human dignities afforded elsewhere in Iran’s penal system.
Crises
Pre-trial detention
Asia
Foreign prisoners
Access to legal rights
Material conditions
Facilities
Torture
Violence
Social ties
Russia
Russia is holding an estimated 16,000 civilians in arbitrary detention at 180 separate facilities. Taganrog was the most notorious.
Europe
Social ties
Rehabilitation
United Kingdom
A charity has appealed for more volunteers to get involved with its transport scheme, to help families of people in prison maintain contact.
Crises
Middle East
Justice
Social ties
Egypt
Ahmed Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, whose father is also in prison, faces up to 10 years behind bars after being arrested in New Cairo.