Material conditions
United States: private equity is using prison phone, food and health systems to rack up profits
News
North America
Material conditions
Facilities
United States
Private equity firms are capturing systems people in prison use and making them even more brutal and unaccountable.
Europe
Mental health
Material conditions
Violence
United Kingdom
HM Inspector of Prisons says that conditions at HMP Bedford have deteriorated so sharply that they’ve had to issue an urgent notification for improvement.
South Africa: resonating stories
Testimonial
Africa
Access to legal rights
Material conditions
Facilities
Activities
South Africa
Five former prisoners share their experiences in South African prisons. Incarcerated for different lengths of time, at different periods and in different facilities, these diverse perspectives highlight the challenges faced by prisoners in South Africa.
South Africa: prisons in 2023
Analysis
Africa
Pre-trial detention
Women
Minors
Foreign prisoners
LGBTQI
Long-term prisoners
Mental health
Material conditions
Facilities
Suicide
Death penalty
Torture
Activities
Social ties
Alternatives
Work
South Africa
All there is to know about South African prisons in 2023. Key figures, life in detention, references: discover all the data gathered by Prison Insider.
Middle East
Discipline
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Torture
Violence
Israel
The increase in detained Palestinians in Israeli prisons since 7th October has reportedly resulted in overcrowding, deprivation of medical treatment, and restriction of drinking water and food. NGO and media reports also document violent and degrading arrests.
South Africa: eyes on the system
Interview
Africa
Health
Material conditions
Violence
South Africa
The Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services (JICS) is the oversight body responsible for supervising South Africa’s prison service. Prison Insider met with Edwin Cameron, the Inspecting Judge, and the JICS executive team to discuss prison conditions in the country.
South America
Discipline
Material conditions
Violence
Venezuela
The system that delegated power in Venezuela’s prisons to pranes, or criminal leaders, seems to be ending after a series of military takeovers of jails by President Nicolás Maduro.
Women
Europe
Mental health
Material conditions
Facilities
Rehabilitation
United Kingdom
In 2022, a new type of detention facility was introduced into the Scottish prison system: Community Custody Units (CCUs). Through trauma informed principles, their aim is to empower women to manage their sentence plans and support their community integration. Interview.
North America
Justice
Material conditions
United States
A tentative settlement in the amount of $4 million was presented on Thursday with regard to a class action lawsuit alleging inhumane living conditions and unethical treatment incurred by inmates at Southern Regional Jail.
Africa
Access to legal rights
Discipline
Material conditions
Zimbabwe
Emmerson Mnangagwa has urged prison officers to be disciplined and uphold human rights principles when handling inmates in the course of their duties.
North America
Health
Material conditions
United States
Democratic lawmakers are introducing a package of legislation that they say will counter inhumane conditions in Wisconsin’s prisons and county jails.
Europe
Health
Material conditions
United Kingdom
Prisoners in some facilities forced to defecate in buckets overnight, a practice outlawed in 1996.
North America
Material conditions
United States
The Missouri Justice Coalition is about to launch its first town hall tour focusing on state prison conditions.
North America
Mental health
Material conditions
United States
The position appears to have been eliminated last year.
Mental health
Material conditions
Death penalty
Torture
World Day Against the Death Penalty is observed every year on 10 October. This year, the day is dedicated to the inherent connection between the death penalty and torture. To mark the occasion, Marie Salphati and Xavière Prugnard described their work for FIACAT on recognising this connection.
DRC: tackling the death penalty head-on
Interview
Africa
Material conditions
Death penalty
Torture
Social ties
Congo - Kinshasa
The death penalty is still in force in the DRC. Death sentences continue to be imposed despite a de facto moratorium on executions. ACAT-DRC is performing long-running advocacy work to achieve abolition. Interview.
Europe
Material conditions
Work
United Kingdom
Dartmoor Prison is failing to provide adequate living conditions, education and work opportunities for its inmates, says an inspectors’ report.
Middle East
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Israel
One in every five Palestinians has been arrested and charged under the 1,600 military orders that control every aspect of the lives of Palestinians living under the Israeli military occupation. That incarceration rate doubles for Palestinian men — two in every five have been arrested.
United Kingdom: prisoners sleeping on matresses "wedged next to lavatories" due to overcrowding
News
Europe
Material conditions
Overcrowding
United Kingdom
Inspector criticises “degrading” conditions in prisons in correspondence to Government
North America
Pre-trial detention
Health
Material conditions
United States