Activities
Prison: a five-star hotel?
Analysis
Europe
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
Activities
Social ties
Work
Are prisons actually luxury hotels? In the first episode of our fact-checking series, Prison Insider responds by drawing on the daily reality of life in prisons.
What prison is not
Thematic paper
Access to legal rights
Discipline
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
Violence
Activities
Alternatives
Work
Overcrowded facilities or incarcerated people “treated too well”, systemic violence or “five-star prisons”: what do the facts actually say? Find out via four fact-checking articles to combat disinformation on detention conditions.
Women
Activities
Rehabilitation
Work
Sierra Leone
After spending almost four years in prison in Freetown, football has provided Marie with the chance of a fresh start in life. While behind bars at a correctional facility in the capital, she enrolled in the first-ever coaching course for women in prison.
Pre-trial detention
Oceania
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Suicide
Overcrowding
Activities
Social ties
Australia
Incarcerated people at a men’s remand prison have limited access to fresh air, excessive lockdowns and unhygienic cells infested with pests, a scathing report from a jails’ watchdog says.
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.
Asia
Access to legal rights
Drugs
Material conditions
Death penalty
Torture
Activities
Social ties
Indonesia
Banished from the mainland, imprisoned people in Indonesia’s notorious Nusakambangan Island await news of their fate. The prison complex is home to a number of prisons of varying levels of security. The least volatile can expect to spend their days working in the fields and carving gems.
Language in the French reintegration programme
Testimonial
Africa
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Activities
Work
Ghana
Speaking before Parliament’s Appointments Committee on Monday, February 25, 2025, Mr Terlabi described the current feeding arrangement, where incarcerated people receive GH¢1.80 worth of food per day as inadequate.
Asia
Activities
Rehabilitation
China
An online charity platform that offers products designed and produced by incarcerated people has garnered favorable feedback from the public. The platform, Made in Prison, offers a variety of products including woodenware, ornaments, stationery, rattan products, and daily necessities.
“Walking into a classroom was like walking out of prison”
Analysis
Portfolio
Culture
North America
Central America and the Caribbean
South America
Activities
Rehabilitation
Argentina
In.Visibles has dedicated an article to education programmes in prisons, highlighting current projects and the people behind them. We are sharing it with you here.
Women
Europe
Mental health
Suicide
Activities
Social ties
United Kingdom
Women’s prisons have ‘astonishing gaps in basic decency’ and an ‘overreliance’ on physical force according to new research which examined conditions in four jails.
Europe
Minors
Health
Mental health
Activities
Rehabilitation
United Kingdom
Teenagers in Feltham Young Offender Institution (YOI) were locked in their cells for as long as 22 hours a day, according to a report.
Europe
Activities
Social ties
Alternatives
Work
United Kingdom
Home detention would replace prison for some people if proposals from the Bar Council are accepted by the ongoing sentencing review being led by former Conservative justice secretary David Gauke.
Culture
Europe
Justice
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Activities
Social ties
Alternatives
Rehabilitation
In Norway, Finland, Denmark, Sweden and Iceland, life in prison resembles the outside world as much as possible. However, like any prison system, they aren’t perfect. Nordic prisons are facing some of the same challenges as prisons in the UK.
Africa
North America
Central America and the Caribbean
South America
Asia
Europe
Middle East
Justice
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Torture
Violence
Activities
Social ties
How can the complexity of information on prison conditions be made accessible and used to support change? The Prison Life Index is the result of a multidisciplinary collaboration between academics and members of civil society.
Europe
Activities
Social ties
Rehabilitation
United Kingdom
At HMP Prescoed, an open prison in south-east Wales, imprisoned people are working at Cilgwri Farm, a fully functioning dairy operation. Here, they help manage a large herd of dairy cows and their calves.
Prisons in transition
Analysis
Crises
North America
Europe
Oceania
Facilities
Activities
Rehabilitation
Work
The climate is changing and the environment is deteriorating. Prison administrations are being forced to radically review the way they operate. How are they doing so far? Panorama.
North America
Women
Justice
Activities
Rehabilitation
United States
Across the country, people incarcerated in women’s prisons have less access to higher education opportunities compared to men’s prisons. That’s according to research from the Vera Institute of Justice, a nonprofit that tracks educational opportunities for incarcerated people.