Information, topic by topic, on prisons across the world

May 6, 2020

USA: el coronavirus se ensaña con las cárceles

News

Coronavirus North America Health United States

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

May 6, 2020

Argentina: la polémique enfle autour de la sortie de prison de détenus

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Coronavirus Europe Justice Argentina

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

May 6, 2020

Venezuela: au moins 47 morts après une mutinerie

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South America Protest Venezuela

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

May 6, 2020

France: face à la menace sanitaire en prison, il faut une loi d'amnistie

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Coronavirus Europe Justice France

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

May 6, 2020

UK: le système pénitentiaire traverse une grave crise, selon le Comité européen anti-torture

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Europe Overcrowding Violence United Kingdom

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

May 6, 2020

USA: inside the deadly coronavirus outbreak at Oakdale federal prison

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Coronavirus North America Health United States

“I just feel like we were all let down,” said one prisoner. At least 39 staff and 113 inmates have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to a staff source. Alfred Reece says the outbreak began when his teacher got sick. A former accountant serving an 8-year sentence for convictions related…

May 6, 2020

Hong Kong: protesters say they were tortured in prison

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Asia Torture China

Three anti-government protesters said on Tuesday that they had been tortured and abused while detained in a Hong Kong prison, alleging they were taken to areas away from surveillance footage and beaten and slapped. Appearing via Skype and in a pre-recorded video shown at a press conference organise…

May 6, 2020

Brazil: inmates protest suspension of visits

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Coronavirus South America Social ties Brazil

A riot broke out Saturday at a prison in the city of Manaus in Brazil’s Amazon state, as inmates protested the suspension of all visits to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The inmates at the Puraquequara facility held prison guards hostage for more than five hours before authorities brought t…

May 6, 2020

Venezuela: dozens killed, injured in prison uprising

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Coronavirus South America Material conditions Overcrowding Violence Venezuela

Government failure to address chronically dire prison conditions

May 6, 2020

USA: while jails drastically cut populations, state prisons have released almost no one

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Coronavirus North America Health United States

Our analysis finds that jails are responding to the unprecedented public health crisis by rapidly dropping their populations. In contrast, state prisons have barely budged.

May 6, 2020

New Zealand: Auckland prisoners confined to cells for up to 29 hours at a time

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Coronavirus Oceania Health New Zealand

Women at an Auckland prison have been routinely confined to their cells for periods of up to 29 hours at a stretch - well outside the law, which says they should get at least one hour out of their cells a day. RNZ took evidence of the lockdown hours including a recently released prisoner’s diary, t…

May 6, 2020

Sierra Leone: riot breaks out in coronavirus-struck prison

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Africa Coronavirus Health Protest Sierra Leone

Reports of casualties after riot at Pademba Road Prison in Freetown, where a COVID-19 case was earlier confirmed.

May 6, 2020

France: par delà les murs de la prison, la parole déconfinée

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Coronavirus Europe Health Social ties France

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

May 6, 2020

Brazil: Covid-19 massacre imminent

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Coronavirus South America Health Material conditions Brazil

Open and poorly treated wounds, food waste on the cell floor, rat faeces, little ventilation, water rationing, insects everywhere. While some inmates do not even get up from their beds, such is their weak state of health, others are stuck in wheelchairs. To wash one’s body or one’s hands or clean a…

May 5, 2020

Estonia: Coronavirus crisis exit strategy launched in prisons

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Coronavirus Europe Health Estonia

TALLINN – Estonian prisons on Wednesday launched the strategy for exiting the emergency situation resulting from the spread of coronavirus, the Ministry of Justice said. The five-day shifts of prison officials were concluded as of Wednesday and the scheduled treatment of prisoners will continue bot…

May 4, 2020

France: Nicole Belloubet, "le taux d’occupation moyen des prisons est inférieur à 100 %"

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Coronavirus Europe Health Overcrowding France

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

May 4, 2020

Peru: mutinerie dans une prison, trois morts

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Coronavirus South America Health Protest Peru

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

May 4, 2020

France: "le confinement en détention, c’est la prison dans la prison"

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Coronavirus Europe Health France

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

May 4, 2020

France: Maïtena Biraben, "ce qui nous horrifie dans les Ehpad devrait nous horrifier dans les prisons"

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Coronavirus Europe Health Social ties France

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

May 4, 2020

France: vers un monde (presque) sans prison ?

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Coronavirus Europe Health France

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

May 4, 2020

Peru: prison riot over coronavirus fears leaves nine dead

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Coronavirus South America Protest Peru

Nine inmates died during a riot at a Lima jail amid fears that Peru’s prisons are becoming a breeding ground for coronavirus after two inmates died of COVID-19 and more than 600 inmates were tested positive. The disturbance broke out at the Miguel Castro Castro jail in the east of the Peruvian capi…

May 4, 2020

USA: the violent history of Angola prison

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North America Violence United States

The Louisiana State Penitentiary is named after the slave plantation that existed on that land where the prison now stands. Columbia University explains that the plantation took its name from the nation its slaves were taken from: Angola. In 1880, former Confederate Major Samuel James purchased the…

May 4, 2020

UK: prison officers punching compliant inmates, report says

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Europe Violence United Kingdom

Human rights delegation finds ‘reprehensible practice’ in three male prisons

May 4, 2020

Syria: prisoner from eastern Ghouta dies under torture in Sednaya prison

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Middle East Torture Syria

Syrian Observatory activists have documented the death of a civilian from Saqba city in eastern Ghouta, seven years after being arrested at a security checkpoint in Damascus. The victim died under torture in Sednaya prison (known as the Slaughterhouse). With the death of more civilians, the number…