Material conditions
United States: as prisons deal with heat waves, climate crisis makes abolition even more urgent
News
North America
Material conditions
Facilities
Social ties
United States
While the planet continues to warm, conditions in prisons, and specifically in solitary confinement, continue to worsen.
Africa
Justice
Health
Material conditions
Ethiopia
A cross section of Nigerians whose relatives are in Kaliti Prison, Ethiopia, have appealed to the Federal Government to intervene to secure the release or transfer of their loved ones.
North America
Women
Material conditions
Overcrowding
United States
With Vermont’s prisons reaching capacities they haven’t hit since the onset of COVID-19, Vermont Department of Corrections officials are grappling with how to handle the influx of people incarcerated.
Africa
Health
Material conditions
Facilities
South Sudan
More than 50 incarcerated people at Wau Central Prison in Western Bahr el Ghazal State are suffering from skin diseases amid a growing shortage of medical supplies.
North America
Health
Material conditions
Facilities
United States
All state prison living units will, in theory, have chilled air for our triple-digit summers by 2032. Until then, we sweat.
South America
Material conditions
Protest
Overcrowding
Bolivia
Incarcerated people climbed onto the roof holding pot lids and signs, shouting slogans about hunger as they called for better conditions.
North America
Women
Health
Material conditions
United States
The Georgia Department of Corrections has started an investigation after Sheqweetta Vaughan, an incarcerated woman serving a two-year sentence at Lee Arrendale State Prison, was found dead in her single-person cell.
Africa
Access to legal rights
Drugs
Material conditions
Social ties
Nigeria
Journalist and activist Agba Jalingo has described Nigerian detention centres and prisons as hubs of extortion and illicit activities, alleging that access to basic rights in custody depends largely on money.
Crises
Middle East
Health
Material conditions
Facilities
Iran
A 21-hour power outage at Sheiban Prison left incarcerated people in critical condition during extreme heat, human rights sources reported on Thursday. Power was cut from 9 p.m. Tuesday to 6 p.m. Wednesday as temperatures in Ahvaz exceeded 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit).
Africa
Drugs
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
South Africa
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) member of Parliament (MP), Betty Diale, has called for urgent action to fix broken correctional services. According to Diale, the correctional services system is exposed to overcrowding, collapsing infrastructure, rampant gangsterism and contraband smuggling.
United States: California sues Los Angeles County over "inhumane" conditions in its jail system
News
North America
Justice
Health
Material conditions
United States
Citing “inhumane conditions” and a “shocking rate of deaths”, Attorney General Rob Bonta on Monday announced that the state is suing Los Angeles County over conditions in its jail system.
Crises
North America
Justice
Health
Material conditions
Facilities
United States
Lawyers requested swift cooling measures in a prison with no A/C. One man shares the dangerous conditions inside while people await a judge’s ruling
Crises
Middle East
Health
Material conditions
Torture
Violence
Israel
The petition alleged that the policy of trimming down food counts as hunger and holding incarcerated people in torturous conditions, which goes against both Israeli law and international law.
Asia
Discipline
Health
Material conditions
Torture
Violence
Social ties
Myanmar (Burma)
A recently released political incarcerated person from Hpa-An (Taung Kalay) prison revealed that 12 political imprisoned people who had asked for more nutritious food were placed in solitary confinement and tortured by prison officials. This brutal treatment resulted in the death of one of them.
Europe
Drugs
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
Violence
Ireland
The Prison Officers Association (POA) has said the overcrowding crisis within Irish prisons has deepened even further this year. The service has published its annual report for 2024, in which it highlights the urgent need for expanded capacity amid mounting challenges that it faces.
Africa
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Sudan
A statement from the African Center for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) laments that that the prison is currently overcrowded with poor sanitation and limited access to food, clean water, and healthcare – conditions under which diseases, particularly cholera, can run rampant.
Europe
Mental health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Work
Cyprus
Alexandros Clerides, said that the government must be held accountable for the chronic overcrowding in Cyprus’ prisons, which currently operate at 200 per cent capacity.
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.
North America
Justice
Health
Material conditions
Facilities
United States
Facing growing pressure from advocacy groups, lawsuits and climate projections that show hotter days ahead, some state prison systems are moving to install air conditioning and expand cooling measures — though many facilities remain years away from significant upgrades.
Asia
Health
Material conditions
Myanmar (Burma)
At least 17 political prisoners have died in Myanmar prisons so far in 2025 due to being denied proper medical treatment, according to the Political Prisoners Network-Myanmar (PPNM).
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.