Information, topic by topic, on prisons across the world

March 2, 2026

Australia: "degrading" prison strip-searches rarely find anything and should be banned, advocates say

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Oceania Discipline Australia

Human Rights Law Centre analysis finds more than 15,000 strip-searches are conducted on average each month, but just 0.58% result in contraband being found.

March 2, 2026

France: prison population reaches record high

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Europe Material conditions Overcrowding Violence France

As of February 1, French prisons were housing more than 86,000 incarcerated people, despite having a capacity of around 63,000. This brought the occupancy rate to 136.9%. Overcrowding forced 6,596 imprisoned people to sleep on mattresses on the floor.

March 2, 2026

United States: lawsuit accuses Illinois prison of forcing pregnant woman into induced labor

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America Women Mental health Violence United States

A woman is suing the Illinois Department of Corrections, claiming she was forced to give birth before her due date while she was incarcerated in 2024.

March 1, 2026

Haiti: the health and humanitarian situation at Jérémie prison is worrying

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America Minors Health Mental health Material conditions Haiti

The conditions of detention are marked by serious deficiencies in sanitation, food, and social services, and a large and vulnerable prison population.

February 27, 2026

New Zealand: indigenous people are going to jail at a record rate - what's the solution?

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Minors Oceania Alternatives New Zealand

They were the haunting images that shocked the nation - an Aboriginal teenager hooded and strapped to a restraint chair, children stripped and tear-gassed in youth detention in the Northern Territory.

February 27, 2026

Azerbaijan: incarcerated Meydan TV journalists refuse meetings after jail builds glass partition in visiting room

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Asia Mental health Material conditions Torture Social ties Azerbaijan

Several incarcerated journalists from the Azerbaijani independent media outlet Meydan TV have announced that they will not see their visiting relatives in protest against the installation of a glass partition in visitation rooms.

February 26, 2026

Türkiye: "The blind cell is the stark reality"

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Asia Europe Discipline Health Torture Turkey

High-security prisons known as “well-type” facilities have drawn public criticism in Türkiye due to their severe isolation conditions.

February 25, 2026

Papua New Guinea: protest over medical help leaves two Bomana incarcerated people in critical condition

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Oceania Health Violence Papua New Guinea

Two incarcerated people from Bomana Prison are in critical condition while an unconfirmed number of others require urgent medical attention, after being allegedly beaten up by Correctional Services officers.

February 24, 2026

Türkiye: prison occupancy rate exceeds 133 percent

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Asia Elderly prisoners Europe Minors Health Overcrowding Turkey

As of February, 407,266 people are incarcerated in 403 prisons, which have a combined official capacity of 304,956, according to CİSST.

February 24, 2026

United States: beating by guards, not a heart attack, killed man in Mississippi prison, report shows

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America Justice Health Violence United States

The FBI is now investigating after a report showed that Mississippi guards beat an incarcerated person to death.

February 24, 2026

Mexico: 23 incarcerated people loose, prison guard dead after cartel stages prison break in Puerto Vallarta

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America Crises Facilities Mexico

Puerto Vallarta’s regional prison was hit in a coordinated attack, leaving one guard dead and 23 incarcerated people missing. Authorities say armed men rammed a vehicle through the front gate and opened fire, triggering chaos inside the facility.

February 23, 2026

Iran: at least 10 incarcerated individuals executed on drug-related charges and murder

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Asia Drugs Death penalty Iran

At dawn today, the death sentences of at least 10 incarcerated individuals were carried out in the prisons of Gorgan, Qaemshahr, Dorud, Isfahan, Neyshabur, Kerman, Kashan, Saveh, Quchan, and Zanjan.

February 21, 2026

Ireland: "preventable" prison deaths highlight serious systemic failures, says Irish Penal Reform Trust

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Europe Health Mental health Drugs Suicide Ireland

Series of reports published by Minister for Justice “lay bare cracks in system that continue to widen, with devastating consequences”.

February 20, 2026

Myanmar: female political prisoners face severe reproductive health crisis due to prison abuse and malnutrition

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Women Asia Health Material conditions Myanmar (Burma)

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) reported that thousands of female political detainees across Myanmar are suffering from serious menstrual disorders and reproductive health complications.

February 20, 2026

Sri Lanka: new electronic monitoring law to ease prison overcrowding

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Asia Overcrowding Alternatives Sri Lanka

Minister of National Integration and Justice, Harshana Nanayakkara, announced that a new Act enabling selected incarcerated people to be placed under house arrest through electronic monitoring is being drafted to address severe prison overcrowding in the country.

February 20, 2026

Colombia: Medellin builds mega-prison inspired by El Salvador's CECOT

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America Facilities Colombia

The mayor of Medellin touted the construction of a mega-prison in his city, Colombia’s second-largest, becoming the latest Latin American leader to mimic the iron-fisted approach to gang violence of El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele.

February 18, 2026

United States: food in New York prisons lacks nutritional balance, advocates say

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America Health Material conditions United States

Food in New York’s state prisons lacks nutritional balance, and issues with packages and commissary lead to minimal healthy options for those incarcerated, a report from the Correctional Association of New York found.

February 16, 2026

Sri Lanka: alarm over prison overcrowding and corruption

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Pre-trial detention Women Asia Access to legal rights Overcrowding Death penalty Sri Lanka

The emergency has been caused by a lack of adequate facilities and the extensive use of preventive detention pending trial. There are at least 40,000 people in prison on the island in facilities with a total capacity of only 10,500 places.

February 16, 2026

Ecuador: prison deaths climb again despite Noboa security strategy, data shows

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America Crises Health Violence Ecuador

After hundreds of Ecuadorean incarcerated people were killed in prison riots in 2021 and 2022, President Daniel Noboa made restoring order in jails one of the central pillars of his security strategy when he took office in 2023.

February 16, 2026

Ireland: Court to continue search for psychiatric treatment for Cork man deteriorating in prison

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Europe Mental health Ireland

Judge Boyle said:“There simply are not enough beds to accommodate all the persons in the state who need them”.

February 15, 2026

Thailand: incarcerated individual at Thonburi prison dies of mpox

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Asia Health Thailand

A male incarcerated person with underlying diseases including HIV died of monkeypox at Thonburi Remand Prison and about 100 other incarcerated people and personnel are under observation, according to health authorities.

February 13, 2026

United States: judge blocks transfer of former federal death row incarcerated people to maximum-security prison

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America Long-term prisoners Justice Facilities Death penalty United States

A US federal judge temporarily halted a plan by President Donald Trump’s administration to move 20 former federal death row incarcerated people to the country’s most restrictive correctional facility.

February 12, 2026

Ireland: prison system under fire over treatment of incarcerated people with mental illness

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Europe Mental health Suicide Social ties Ireland

RTÉ documentary lays bare how incarcerated people with severe mental illness are failed by the State, with devastating consequences for families.

February 11, 2026

Nigeria: incarcerated people awaiting trial account for 64 per cent of the prison population

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Africa Pre-trial detention Nigeria

The Nigeria Correctional Service has revealed that awaiting trial incarcerated people account for 64 per cent of the total custodial population across the country, a development that highlights the persistent congestion in correctional facilities nationwide.