Mental health
North America
Mental health
Suicide
Death penalty
United States
A man convicted of murder in Bay County who was sitting on death row has committed suicide in prison.
North America
Discipline
Mental health
United States
Menard has been on lockdown nearly every day since September 2023, according to data from the Illinois Department of Corrections. Lockdowns, according to officials, are largely the result of short staffing. On average, Menard has only been able to staff 44% of the prison so far this year.
North America
LGBTQI
Long-term prisoners
Health
Mental health
Violence
United States
Riicara Janel Dior is a trans woman currently serving time at the Grafton Correctional Institution — a men’s prison in Lorain County.
North America
Pre-trial detention
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
United States
Twenty-eight people have died in county jails so far this year. The county’s death toll is running alongside the deadliest years on record.
Europe
Mental health
Suicide
Overcrowding
Violence
Netherlands
A recent investigation among 350 employees working directly with people in prison in the Dutch prison system reveals widespread violence and high work pressure, prompting concerns about staff retention.
Asia
Elderly prisoners
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
India
In the advisory, the MHA reiterated its commitment to the welfare of elderly citizens and emphasised the need for “special accessible accommodations in prisons” to meet the physical needs of old incarcerated people.
Middle East
Foreign prisoners
Health
Mental health
Suicide
Lebanon
The suicide of a Syrian man in Lebanon’s Roumieh Central Prison has cast a new light on the dire conditions inside the country’s prisons, particularly medical neglect and the delay of trials.
Europe
Mental health
Suicide
Overcrowding
Italy
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni looks set to send more people to jail with her law-and-order crackdown — but the country’s prisons are in no fit state to take more incarcerated people.
Asia
Discipline
Health
Mental health
Torture
Azerbaijan
During the meeting with his lawyer, Hasanli said he had been kept in a solitary confinement cell since June 26 and had been on a hunger strike since then. Despite his deteriorating health due to the hunger strike, he has not received medical assistance or a doctor’s examination.
Europe
Minors
Discipline
Mental health
Drugs
Overcrowding
Violence
United Kingdom
The rollout of synthetic pepper spray for use to incapacitate jailed children is “wholly irresponsible” while black and minority imprisoned people are more likely to be subjected to force than white imprisoned people, a watchdog has said.
North America
Pre-trial detention
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Suicide
Overcrowding
Alternatives
United States
Another person has died in Los Angeles County Jails, bringing the county’s number of deaths this year to a staggering 22. LA jails have totaled 99 deaths since the start of 2023.
Culture
Oceania
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Facilities
New Zealand
The Government has opened a new 596-bed facility at Waikeria Prison. It comprises 28 buildings across 21 hectares, 14 kilometres south of Te Awamutu.
Africa
Access to legal rights
Justice
Mental health
South Africa
People who are found unfit to stand trial or be held criminally liable for a crime due to their psychiatric state are supposed to receive specialised care in the health system. But hundreds are being kept in prisons.
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.
Europe
LGBTQI
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Violence
Turkey
Gökalp, a member of the LGBTI+ commission of the Socialist Party (SOLDEP), was arrested on May 2 in İzmir and sent to prison. Gökalp’s lawyer, Deniz Can Aydın, called for her immediate release, citing serious health concerns and claims of harassment in prison due to her gender identity.
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.
Europe
Health
Mental health
Drugs
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Alternatives
Ireland
The number of incarcerated people who died in custody increased by 55% last year - up from 20 in 2023 to 31 last year. However, Chief Inspector of Prisons said the “increase is even higher” when the figures are broken down.“If we look purely at deaths in prisons, they’ve actually gone up by 90%”.
Central America and the Caribbean
Minors
Justice
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Violence
Trinidad & Tobago
A High Court judge awarded more than $3 million in compensation to a brother and sister after ruling that their constitutional rights were violated when they were unlawfully detained in adult prison facilities while they were still minors.
Europe
Discipline
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
United Kingdom
The number of people dying in prison in Scotland surged to a record number of 64 in 2024, a 60 per cent increase on the previous year, prompting grave concern from experts who warned that the nation’s prison mortality rate is among the highest in Europe.
Europe
Justice
Mental health
Overcrowding
Violence
Romania
The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) expressed serious concern about the significant increase in prison overcrowding in Romania and called on Romania and other states to eradicate that and informal prison hierarchy.
Asia
Mental health
Suicide
Violence
Armenia
An incarcerated person has died by suicide at Armenia’s Nubarashen correctional facility. According to the penitentiary service, 54-year-old Z.H. hanged himself on 20 April. This marks the 10th death and the 5th suicide in Armenian prisons within the first four months of this year.