Information, topic by topic, on prisons across the world

June 11, 2020

Taiwan: team helps Nauruan prison to make own food

News

Asia Material conditions Work Taiwan

A Taiwanese technical mission to the Pacific island nation of Nauru is helping a penal facility improve food self-reliance and is teaching inmates skills they can use after their release, the team said yesterday. “The project, with the goal of minimizing waste, officially started in January, with a…

June 11, 2020

Yemen: rights group says detainees face ‘slow death’ in prison

News

Middle East Health Material conditions Yemen

The Yemeni Abductees’ Mothers Association in the city of Aden yesterday warned that the detainees in Bir Ahmed Prison are facing a “slow death” due to ill-treatment by the prison administration. The group said in a statement that the prison administration deliberately mistreats detainees by cutting…

June 11, 2020

Cambodia: reforms to tackle prison overcrowding ‘must go further and put human rights at the core of drug policy’

News

Asia Drugs Overcrowding Cambodia

At the beginning of the year, Cambodia’s largest prison facility exceeded 9,500 prisoners – which is 463% over its maximum capacity of 2,050 Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch want reforms to be deepened and made permanent, through the review and amendment of the Law on Drug Control ‘Camb…

June 11, 2020

United Arab Emirates : reported Covid-19 prison outbreaks

News

Coronavirus Middle East Health United Arab Emirates

(Beirut) – UAE prison authorities should take urgent measures to protect the mental and physical health of prisoners amid reported Covid-19 outbreaks in at least three detention facilities across the country, Human Rights Watch said today. Family members of prisoners in al-Wathba prison near Abu Dh…

June 11, 2020

France: première évaluation des impacts de la crise covid sur la justice et la prison

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Coronavirus Europe Justice France

This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: French

June 11, 2020

France: un rapport critique la gestion des détenus radicalisés

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Europe France

This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: French

June 11, 2020

France: Adeline Hazan, "en prison, les droits fondamentaux sont presque considérés comme un luxe"

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Europe Overcrowding France

This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: French

June 10, 2020

Colombia: coronavirus hits prison population hard

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Coronavirus South America Health Colombia

Critics say the government’s response to early warnings about the spread of COVID-19 in Colombian prisons was too little, too late.

June 10, 2020

Canada: spiritual needs of vulnerable federal inmates unmet during pandemic: chaplains

News

Coronavirus North America Religion Canada

OTTAWA – Federal prison chaplains say the spiritual needs of inmates have become an unnecessary casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic at a time when offenders are feeling particularly vulnerable and alone. The Correctional Service of Canada is allowing only emergency in-person visits from chaplains to…

June 10, 2020

USA: after Louisiana women's prison flooded in 2016, temporary dorms inundated with coronavirus

News

Coronavirus North America Women United States

In one massive room filled with rows of metal bunk beds about an arm’s length apart, 70 women share three toilets and four sinks. There’s no such thing as social distancing inside the female prison dorms that have become inundated with coronavirus cases. The high case numbers have prompted Departme…

June 9, 2020

Touch — 9/12

Inside Outside

North America South America Women Asia Europe Long-term prisoners

Each month, the photographer Bertrand Gaudillère creates an image or chooses one from his archives. Prison Insider sends it to a dozen participants, prisoners around the world.They are in Argentina, in the United States of America, in France, in Switzerland, in Guatemala, in Ukraine, in Colombia, i…

June 4, 2020

Afghanistan: life inside Kabul's women's prison during Covid-19

News

Coronavirus Women Asia Afghanistan

Thousands of prisoners in Afghanistan have been released and pardoned as the country battles the Covid-19 pandemic. But in Kabul’s only prison facility for women, more than a hundred women, often with young children, remain behind bars. FRANCE 24 reports from Kabul. In Afghanistan’s overcrowded pri…

June 4, 2020

USA: solitary confinement is fueling New York's prison suicide crisis

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North America Mental health Suicide United States

On average, someone attempts suicide in one of New York State’s prisons every other day. And 43 percent of those suicide attempts occur in the state’s notorious solitary confinement units — the Special Housing Unit, or SHUs. Solitary confinement is also linked to higher rates of death by suicide, a…

June 4, 2020

USA: what women dying in prison from COVID-19 tell us about female incarceration

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Coronavirus North America Women United States

This article was originally published by The Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization covering the U.S. criminal justice system. Melissa Ann Horn’s name appeared over and over in court records and jail blotters in the rural Virginia county where she was born, and where she was arrested for c…

June 4, 2020

Australia: aboriginal people in prison and out-of-home care suffering under 'punitive' Covid-19 restrictions

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Coronavirus Minors Oceania Material conditions Social ties Australia

Report reveals inmates going without soap and children in out-of-home care system being refused contact with families

June 4, 2020

Argentina: #NiUnaMenos, desde las cárceles también

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South America Women Justice Argentina

This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: Spanish

June 4, 2020

Argentina: la Provincia firmará un convenio con Naciones Unidas para mejorar las cárceles bonaerenses

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South America Violence Rehabilitation Work Argentina

This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: Spanish

June 4, 2020

South America: las mujeres tienen mayor riesgo de suicidio en las cárceles

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South America Women Mental health

This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: Spanish

June 4, 2020

Argentina: el 40% de los presos en cárceles de Misiones no tiene condena

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Pre-trial detention South America Argentina

This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: Spanish

June 4, 2020

Mexico: “salí de una cárcel para ir a otra”, testimonio de un preso liberado por la pandemia

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Coronavirus Central America and the Caribbean Health Mexico

This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: Spanish

June 4, 2020

Latin America: como evitar brotes de coronavirus en las cárceles

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Coronavirus Central America and the Caribbean South America Health

This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: Spanish

June 4, 2020

Argentina: plan de continuidad pedagógica en las cárceles

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South America Minors Activities Argentina

This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: Spanish

June 4, 2020

Latin America: la desesperación en las cárceles frente al Covid-19

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Coronavirus Central America and the Caribbean South America Health

This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: Spanish

June 4, 2020

Chile: la pandemia en las cárceles, riesgo de contagio de la población penal es 6 veces más alto

News

Coronavirus South America Health Chile

This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: Spanish