News
Russia: workers at prison where Navalny died reportedly tried to pass off inmate’s death from torture as suicide
Asia
Facilities
Torture
Russia
Workers at the “Polar Wolf” prison in Russia’s Far North where Alexey Navalny died once tried to pass off another inmate’s death as a suicide when he actually died as a result of torture, the investigative outlet Holod reported on Friday.
Source: Meduza
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Women
Europe
Justice
Health
Social ties
United Kingdom
Pregnant women are now less likely to be sent to prison under new guidelines which will force courts to consider how jail time affects a woman who is either due to give birth or has recently had a baby.
Middle East
Health
Material conditions
Torture
Israel
Juma Abu Ghanima died five days after reports emerged that his health was seriously deteriorating, the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Society Prisoners’ Club (PPS) said in an official statement. His death brings the total number of prisoners and detainees who have died in Isra…
Europe
Justice
Overcrowding
Alternatives
Netherlands
Due to the shortage of prison guards, outgoing Minister Franc Weerwind (Legal Protection) is taking two additional measures to reduce the pressure on prisons acutely. For instance, people who still have to serve a prison sentence of up to two months will have to do so at a later date.
Central America and the Caribbean
Facilities
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Haiti
Haiti’s national penitentiary is on fire after a blaze broke out in the building on Thursday morning, according to Reuters. A video posted to social media reportedly showed black smoke coming out of the facility.
Europe
Justice
Material conditions
Protest
Overcrowding
Italy
Prisoners in the northern Italian city of Parma are on hunger strike over poor sanitation and overcrowding, the latest in a spate of protests in the country’s jails where cases of suicide and self-harm are at an all-time high. Giorgia Meloni’s hard-right government has responded by threatening to m…
Europe
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Torture
Belgium
The incident in which a prisoner in Antwerp was tortured for several days by cellmates is the result of “scandalous working conditions” for staff and prison overcrowding, unions said on Wednesday.
Women
Europe
Minors
Foreign prisoners
Activities
Finland
There were an average of 3,143 prisoners in Finland last year, according to figures released on Tuesday by the Prison and Probation Service.
Central America and the Caribbean
Protest
Violence
Haiti
Haiti has declared a three-day state of emergency and a night-time curfew after armed gangs stormed the country’s two biggest jails, allowing more than 3 000 prisoners to escape.
Africa
Access to legal rights
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Social ties
Kenya
Prisoners held in custody have been granted the right to attend the funerals of their close family members, unless compelling reasons dictate otherwise. The ruling was made in a case by former journalist Moses Dola, who is serving a 10-year prison sentence since 2018.
North America
Women
Torture
Violence
United States
Despite highly publicized arrests and promises of change, sexual abuse and retaliation continue at the prison in Dublin, California.
Europe
Material conditions
Social ties
United Kingdom
According to the Prison Service, all 92 closed public-sector prisons in England and Wales will be fully fitted with phones by February 24.
Asia
Justice
Material conditions
Violence
Russia
Russia’s most significant opposition leader for the past decade, Alexei Navalny, has died in an Arctic Circle jail, the prison service has said. President Vladimir Putin’s most vociferous critic, he was serving 19 years on extremism charges that were widely seen as politically motivated.
Central America and the Caribbean
Material conditions
Facilities
El Salvador
Since the Cecot (Centre for the Confinement of Terrorism) opened on 31 January 2023, the BBC had repeatedly requested access to the mega-prison. It was finally granted two days after President Nayib Bukele claimed victory in the presidential election held on 4 February.
Oceania
Mental health
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New Zealand
Prisoners seeking mental health support at a prison south of Palmerston North were waiting up to three months to see a clinician, inspectors say.
North America
Access to legal rights
Health
United States
Mississippi prison health care contractors withheld cancer diagnosis and treatment for years, a lawsuit filed Wednesday alleges.
South America
Justice
Material conditions
Torture
Ecuador
An Ecuadorian judge has ordered the Ombudsman’s Office to investigate alleged acts of torture by the military in several prisons in the country. The move comes under the state of emergency enacted by the government at the beginning of January to end a prison riot crisis.