Information, topic by topic, on prisons across the world

March 5, 2020

USA: el confinamiento en solitario prolongado en las cárceles equivale a tortura psicológica

News

North America Discipline Health Mental health Torture United States

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

January 1, 2020

Coronavirus: Prison Fever / 2021

News Thematic paper

Africa Coronavirus North America Central America and the Caribbean South America Asia Elderly prisoners Europe Middle East Oceania Health Mental health Material conditions Activities Social ties

The virus has not stopped at prison gates. What measures are taken to guarantee the safety of all prisoners and prison staff? What are the consequences of the pandemic on the living conditions in prisons? Here is an overview. — Update 31/12/2021

November 19, 2019

USA: Artist JR teamed up with current and former inmates to create a mural at a supermax prison outside LA

News

North America Mental health United States

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

November 17, 2019

France: délinquants "psychiatriques": leur place est-elle en prison?

News

Europe Mental health France

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

November 13, 2019

UK: security firm to monitor prisoner vulnerability at Kilmarnock Prison in bid to prevent suicide and self harm

News

Europe Mental health Suicide United Kingdom

Changes in behaviour are highlighted to prison officers – allowing them to intervene before a prisoner self-harms or attempts suicide.

November 12, 2019

Turkey: radicalisation en prison, l'ONU en quête de solutions

News

Europe Discipline Justice Mental health Rehabilitation Turkey

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

November 1, 2019

UK: mental health act: calls to end "horrific" detention of young people with autism

News

Europe Health Mental health United Kingdom

“It has been left to the media and desperate, anguished parents to expose the brutal reality of our system of detention of people with learning disabilities or autism.”

September 24, 2019

France: prisons and mental health

Interview

Europe Health Mental health France

People with mental illness are over represented in the prison population. This group is particularly vulnerable and subjected to violence and abuse. Prison psychiatry is a sector that has undergone significant changes lately, in France and elsewhere. Where do we stand right now? In July 2014, Adeli…

September 18, 2019

Spain: alertan del elevado número de casos de enfermedad mental en las cárceles

News

Europe Mental health Spain

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

September 5, 2019

UK: with parents in prison, kids at risk for lasting psychiatric problems

News

Europe Mental health United Kingdom

Children who have a parent in prison may be more than twice as likely as other kids to have depression, attention problems and conduct disorders by the time they reach adolescence, a U.S. study suggests.

August 25, 2019

Russia: 'Black Hole', prosecutors probing allegations of punitive psychiatric treatment in Siberian prison

News

Asia Europe Mental health Russia

Igor Sovchuk, a prisoner at prison IK-6 in the city of Tyumen, Siberia, complained repeatedly of a headache. After being told repeatedly to shut up, the guards finally agreed to take him to the medical unit. He was given an injection and sent back to his cell.

August 19, 2019

Japan: surveillance and old age

Interview

Asia Long-term prisoners Mental health Japan

Akaike Kazumasa is a criminologist and specialises in the Japanese prison system. Rate of imprisonment, working as a prisoner, prisoners’ age: Prison Insider asks him three questions to understand the particularities of the country’s penitentiary system.

August 12, 2019

Spain: Sevilla, una de las cárceles con más presos con trastornos mentales graves

News

Europe Mental health Spain

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

August 5, 2019

Poland: groundbreaking lawsuit targets violations at controversial psychiatric facility

News

Europe Mental health Poland

A client of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (HFHR) has filed a lawsuit against the State Treasury, seeking damages for multiple violations at the National Centre for the Prevention of Dissocial Behaviours.

July 29, 2019

Australia: juvenile prison guards strip searches cause mental health problems, former inmates claim

News

Oceania Health Mental health Australia

Children as young as 10 years old are being routinely strip searched in juvenile detention in NSW with minimal or no contraband found, according to new data.

July 18, 2019

Canada: santé mentale en prison, « une fabrique d’itinérance »

News

North America Health Mental health Canada

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

April 24, 2019

Spain: denuncian la falta de asistencia psiquiátrica en las cárceles de Castellón

News

Europe Mental health Spain

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

April 23, 2019

United States of America: solitary confinement worsens mental illness

News

North America Discipline Mental health United States

Prisoners who volunteered for a mental health diversion program say promises of therapy and time out of their cells weren’t fulfilled. And Texas prison officials aren’t regularly tracking success rates — even as they ask lawmakers to fund an expansion of the program.

February 26, 2019

France : surpopulation, violence, contrebande et troubles psychiatriques dans les prisons de La Réunion

News

Europe Mental health Overcrowding Violence France

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

January 14, 2019

Iceland: no prison psychiatrist in five years

News

Europe Mental health Iceland

There hasn’t been a psychiatrist working in Icelandic prisons for more than five years, despite that fact that prisoners are guaranteed mental health services by law, RÚV reports. Three individuals incarcerated in Icelandic prisons have committed suicide in the last two years, a fact that is being…

November 11, 2018

France: soignants en psychiatrie, le « règne de l’absurde » ?

News

Europe Mental health France

This article is not available in English. If you wish, you can consult the French version.

November 1, 2018

United Kingdom: inspectors warn of worsening conditions for mentally ill inmates

News

Europe Mental health United Kingdom

Mentally ill prisoners in the largest high-security jail in the UK face “totally unacceptable” delays in being transferred to a secure hospital, leading to a further deterioration in their conditions, inspectors have said.

October 25, 2018

France: de moins en moins de malades psychiatriques échappent à la prison

News

Europe Health Mental health France

This article is not available in English. If you wish, you can consult the French version.

July 23, 2018

Italy: a government plan for harsher prison conditions

Analysis Opinion

Europe Mental health Italy

Only vendetta and no justice in the Five Star Movement - Lega’s governing contract for Italy