Access to legal rights
Connecting Stories Beyond Bars
America
Pre-trial detention
Women
Europe
Long-term prisoners
Access to legal rights
Mental health
Material conditions
Violence
Social ties
‘Connecting Stories Beyond Bars - The invisible impact of prison on relatives’ is a six-episode docuseries produced with Acifad (Argentina), Amparar (Brasil), Relais Famille (Canada), OIP-SF (France), Documenta (Mexico) and POPS (UK).
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Africa
Crises
Access to legal rights
Health
Torture
Social ties
Libya
The Supreme Council of Sufism in Libya announced the discovery of the body of citizen Omar Al-Farsi (64) in the city of Benghazi, confirming that the victim had been arbitrarily detained prior to his death in prisons run by the “Madkhalis“, as it described.
Africa
Pre-trial detention
Women
Access to legal rights
Material conditions
Social ties
Senegal
Maïmouna Diouf served several years in a women’s prison, found guilty of infanticide, a charge she denies. She says conditions were harsh — dirty mattresses on the floor, a lack of sufficient food and hygiene products.
Pre-trial detention
Women
Asia
Access to legal rights
Overcrowding
Death penalty
Sri Lanka
The emergency has been caused by a lack of adequate facilities and the extensive use of preventive detention pending trial. There are at least 40,000 people in prison on the island in facilities with a total capacity of only 10,500 places.
Africa
Women
Access to legal rights
Death penalty
Sudan
The women are reportedly without legal representation amid the collapse of the justice system, and the restriction of the work of legal aid organisations. The activists highlight that the women’s situation “requires urgent and effective solidarity”.
Gabon: existing and surviving in prison
Interview
Africa
Pre-trial detention
Access to legal rights
Justice
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Gabon has a particularly high rate of incarceration: 226 people are imprisoned per 100,000 inhabitants. Overcrowding is a flagrant issue, and the living conditions are considered extremely concerning. SOS Prisonniers Gabon provides an overview.
Africa
Pre-trial detention
Access to legal rights
Overcrowding
Nigeria
Fresh questions are being raised about Nigeria’s prison pardon and decongestion process following a recent exercise by the Lagos State Judiciary, as lawyers point to missing incarcerated people files, unexplained inclusions and exclusions, and allegations of irregular influence.
Europe
Access to legal rights
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Violence
Social ties
Ireland
An unannounced inspection of Mountjoy Prison found that incarcerated people were being subjected to “degrading treatment” in conditions that did not meet minimum human rights standards.
Asia
Access to legal rights
Social ties
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyz citizens serving sentences in Russian prisons are facing lengthy delays in being transferred back home.
Pre-trial detention
Women
Asia
Access to legal rights
China
A jailed activist has lost a judicial review against a Hong Kong Correctional Services Department (CSD) rule that prohibits incarcerated women from wearing shorts in summer.
America
Women
LGBTQI
Access to legal rights
Violence
United States
Handlang has been incarcerated in men’s prisons in Missouri for 11 years. While in prison, she says she has experienced a great deal of violence and discrimination.
Crises
Middle East
Access to legal rights
Health
Social ties
Iran
Taher Naghavi, an imprisoned lawyer who once represented political prisoners and families seeking justice, began his hunger strike on October 27 after prison authorities rejected his request for medical furlough.
Africa
Pre-trial detention
Access to legal rights
Justice
South Sudan
Incarcerated people at the Torit Central Prison in Eastern Equatoria State have voiced concerns about exorbitant legal fees, which have left many of them locked up for over five years without trial.
Locking up the opposition
Analysis
Africa
America
Asia
Europe
LGBTQI
Access to legal rights
Justice
Material conditions
Torture
In this long-format article, Prison Insider explores how defending human rights can become a reason for incarceration, in every part of the world.
Central America and the Caribbean
Women
Access to legal rights
Drugs
Material conditions
Torture
Violence
Social ties
El Salvador
Former incarcerated people recount arbitrary arrests and months of torture, while families of current ones demand answers.
Türkiye: mother incarcerated in Gülen case with 1-year-old by her side despite law on recent mothers
News
Women
Asia
Europe
Minors
Access to legal rights
Turkey
Turkish authorities have jailed a woman accompanied by her 1-year-old infant as part of an investigation into the Gülen movement despite the fact that the law allows courts to postpone sentences for women who gave birth within the past 18 months.
Europe
Minors
Access to legal rights
Health
Torture
Social ties
Turkey
At least 2,651 people were subjected to ill-treatment during detentions at 191 peaceful protests, including 27 children and 46 journalists, according to the Human Rights Association.
Crises
Central America and the Caribbean
Access to legal rights
Health
Material conditions
Torture
El Salvador
A report released by human rights groups determined that the treatment of more than 200 Venezuelan migrants imprisoned in El Salvador at the request of the U.S. amounted to arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance under international law.
Central America and the Caribbean
Pre-trial detention
Access to legal rights
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Haiti
The Association of Volunteers for the Reintegration of Prisoners visited the Cap-Haïtien prison. The findings are alarming and reflect a detention situation marked by a severe deterioration of both human and material conditions.
Pre-trial detention
Women
Europe
Minors
Foreign prisoners
LGBTQI
Access to legal rights
Overcrowding
Turkey
The number of incarcerated people in Türkiye’s prisons has reached 420,904. This marks a sevenfold increase from the 59,429 recorded in 2002, the year the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power.
The power of the group (1/6)
Testimonial
America
Europe
Access to legal rights
Torture
Violence
Social ties
Hearing the voices of relatives of incarcerated people in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, France, Mexico and the UK reveals one key finding: the group brings enough strength to build resistance. Coming together offers a space for dialogue, mutual support, and the ability to build concrete responses to d…
The echo of violence (2/6)
Testimonial
America
Europe
Access to legal rights
Mental health
Violence
Social ties
How are the lives of relatives affected when someone they love is deprived of liberty? Feelings of powerlessness, dehumanisation, daily life disruption — prison affects not only the incarcerated people but also, often invisibly, those left on the outside.