Material conditions
Africa
Crises
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Violence
Congo - Kinshasa
In attempting to describe Makala Prison - the scene of a deadly and failed breakout in the Democratic Republic of Congo - two people who have been inside used the exact same word: “hell”.“Makala is not a prison, but a detention centre resembling a concentration camp, where people are sent to die”.
Central America and the Caribbean
Health
Material conditions
Torture
Violence
Social ties
Nicaragua
“It was an ordeal I thought would never end,” says one of the 135 political prisoners exiled on September 5th to Guatemala by the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo. Former prisoners confirm physical and psychological torture.
Africa
Crises
Pre-trial detention
Access to legal rights
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Violence
Congo - Kinshasa
Families of those killed in what authorities called an attempted jailbreak in Congo’s biggest prison are demanding answers from the government as activists denounce what they say are inhumane conditions in the nation’s overcrowded penitentiaries.
Minors
Oceania
Justice
Material conditions
Violence
Australia
Children have shared their experiences locked up in Banksia Hill Detention Centre in a report that slammed the Western Australian government for “systemic failures”.
North America
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Violence
United States
This latest death follows one earlier this week at the same facility, Los Angeles’s Men’s Central Jail. The proximity of these tragedies underscores the urgency for Los Angeles County to honor the commitment it made in 2021 to close the facility and stop the cycle of death plaguing its jails.
North America
Health
Material conditions
Facilities
United States
Legal action aims to force criminal justice department to air condition prisons, where 85,000 are at risk of heat illnesses.
Women
Elderly prisoners
Europe
Minors
Health
Material conditions
Turkey
Lawyers associations in Turkey visited the Batman closed prison to report human rights violations experienced by the group of youths arrested for dancing to Kurdish music. Accordingly, the group was strip searched and forced to listen to nationalistic marches as “punishment.”
Crises
Middle East
Health
Material conditions
Torture
Violence
Israel
In a new 118-page report, the Israeli rights group B’Tselem accused the government of conducting a policy of institutionalised abuse and torture against all Palestinian detainees since 7 October.
Middle East
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Violence
Egypt
Six detainees have died in one week at a detention centre in the al-Sharqia governorate in Egypt, the Egyptian Network for Human Rights (ENHR) has reported. Egyptian rights group says detainees suffered from “suffocation” due to overcrowding and poor ventilation.
Crises
Middle East
Health
Material conditions
Iran
For the past twenty days, prisoners in Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj have faced significant issues with accessing clean water. During this period, the inmates have only had access to safe drinking water for seven hours a day, putting their health at serious risk.
Choosing the angle
Insights
Focus
North America
Women
Health
Material conditions
United States
A woman in the Central California Women’s Facility, located in the Central valley city of Chowchilla, died as temperatures in the region climbed above 110F. The California Coalition for Women Prisoners, an advocacy group, said it appeared the woman suffered a preventable heat death.
Europe
Material conditions
Suicide
Overcrowding
Italy
“This is a high figure compared to the same month of July in 2023 and 2022, when 34 were recorded (with an increase of 16 deaths)” read the guarantor’s report. “There are 48 men and 2 women, 27 are Italian and 23 foreigners, from 14 different countries.
Crises
North America
Health
Material conditions
Facilities
United States
Over the past two decades, nearly 13,000 people have perished behind bars during America’s summer months. However, many of these deaths are not typically attributed to heat, the product of poor death-counting practices that have led to an undercount of heat-related deaths for decades.
"Making every death a public affair"
Interview
Europe
Mental health
Material conditions
Suicide
Deaths occurring in prison are frequent, but often kept quiet. Civil society groups are joining forces to draw attention, advocate for greater transparency and raise awareness of prison deaths. Discussion with two groups: one in France, the other in Switzerland.
Europe
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
United Kingdom
Scottish prisons are in crisis and risk breaching inmates’ human rights, according to a new official report. Holyrood’s Public Audit Committee has called on the government to carry out an urgent review of the prison system.
North America
Justice
Material conditions
Work
United States
Forced labor under the threat of punishment. Hourly wages under a dollar an hour. Having to choose between purchasing food or personal items. These are the conditions facing incarcerated New Yorkers that advocates say are why the state should amend its constitution to bar involuntary labor.
North America
Material conditions
Social ties
United States
Connecticut families brought an end to expensive prison communication, providing a lifeline for the voices behind bars. But consistent contact still isn’t guaranteed.
