Europe
Europe
Justice
Mental health
Overcrowding
Violence
Romania
The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) expressed serious concern about the significant increase in prison overcrowding in Romania and called on Romania and other states to eradicate that and informal prison hierarchy.
Europe
Social ties
Rehabilitation
United Kingdom
A charity has appealed for more volunteers to get involved with its transport scheme, to help families of people in prison maintain contact.
Europe
Mental health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Rehabilitation
Belgium
Overcrowding in Ghent prison reached alarming proportions in 2024, according to a new report by the Inspection Committee. The number of complaints from incarcerated people about living conditions in the prison has risen sharply.
Mutineers, rebels and objectors
Analysis
Inside Outside
Africa
North America
South America
Asia
Europe
Middle East
Protest
Prison Insider, represented by Clara Grisot, contributed twelve compositions to the book InsideOutside to articulate, in a few words, the current challenges of prison life. Eighth piece: rebellion.
Europe
Overcrowding
Social ties
Alternatives
Rehabilitation
Belgium
The state of prisons - notably overcrowding, poor staff working conditions and inadequate access to support for imprisoned people - are not conducive to rehabilitation, according to a new report by the Brussels Federation of Institutions for Inmates and Former Prisoners (Fidex).
Pre-trial detention
Europe
Mental health
Suicide
United Kingdom
Jordan Burns made several attempts to take his own life during 10 months as an unconvicted person on remand at Scotland’s HMP Addiewell before he suffered an overdose whilst alone in his cell. His grieving mother Janice is suing the prison so it “never happens again”.
Europe
Material conditions
Social ties
United Kingdom
HM Inspectorate of Prisons has identified the issue as one of those which frustrate incarcerated people’s efforts to resolve everyday issues such as requests for extra toilet rolls for a cell, making an appointment to speak to staff in another department and applying for courses or prison jobs.
Women
Europe
Mental health
Material conditions
Social ties
United Kingdom
Women in prison will be given access to hairdryers, hair straighteners and salons in a drive to reduce levels of self-harm. The equipment will be available for loan on wings.
Europe
Facilities
Overcrowding
Alternatives
United Kingdom
The site, described by critics as a ‘megaprison,’ is equipped with solar panels and heat pump technology and is the first prison of this kind in the UK. It is one of Britain’s biggest prisons, and is part of a plan to tackle the serious overcrowding.
Europe
Mental health
Suicide
Overcrowding
Alternatives
Rehabilitation
Italy
There have been 24 suicides in Italy’s prisons so far this year after three imprisoned people took their own lives in jails in Avellino, Genoa and Trieste, penitentiary police union SPP said. The union said that, at this rate, last year’s record of 91 prison suicides will be broken in 2025.
Europe
Access to legal rights
Drugs
United Kingdom
A former imprisoned person who died of drug poisining a day after being released should have been given a drug overdose kit, an investigation has found.
Europe
Suicide
Overcrowding
Violence
Activities
United Kingdom
Overcrowding is a trigger for poor performances in prisons, says a research document produced by the Institute for Government. It calls for increased education and training for imprisoned people, and the introduction of a minimum standard of provision.
Women
Europe
Material conditions
Social ties
Rehabilitation
United Kingdom
The Lilias Centre, in the Maryhill area of Glasgow, is part of a multimillion-pound experiment to tackle reoffending through rehabilitation. They give incarcerated women greater freedoms than traditional prisons and prepare them for life in the community after their sentence.
Women
Europe
Justice
Mental health
Suicide
United Kingdom
A new HM Inspectorate of Prisons report on HMP Styal found that 39 women had been sent to the prison due to their “acute vulnerabilities and the absence of specialised support in the community.”
Women
Europe
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Violence
Social ties
United Kingdom
Most women in jail have been victims of more serious crimes than they themselves have committed, writes Andrea Coomber. We’ve known how to tackle this crisis for almost 20 years – now it’s time to put it into action.
Crises
Europe
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
Ireland
Prison overcrowding is at another crisis point with all secure jails having reached, or exceeded, capacity for the first time. The number of incarcerated male in Mountjoy Prison, Dublin, has this week grown to 1,000 for the first time.