Justice
Africa
Justice
Death penalty
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe has officially abolished the death penalty following the enactment of a new law signed by President Emmerson Mnangagwa. Published on Tuesday, December 31, the legislation prohibits courts from issuing capital punishment sentences and commutes all existing death sentences to prison terms.
Oceania
Justice
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Violence
Australia
Prison guards switched off the water to the cell of a mentally ill and dying man as punishment for his strange behaviour, joked that his repeated pleas for help were “entertaining”, and then left him unobserved to die at Silverwater jail from a treatable illness that was inexplicably missed.
From a cell to the street
Analysis
North America
Europe
Access to legal rights
Justice
Rehabilitation
(1) Many people become stuck in the revolving door between the streets and prison. Countless incarcerated people agonise over their impending release when they have no habitation solution. All are put in a difficult situation and severely affected by the housing crisis.
North America
Justice
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
United States
Moldy mattresses, 24/7 lights and constant noise contribute to a persistent health and safety crisis in prisons and jails. The Marshall Project and Los Angeles Times have identified more than 30 lawsuits regarding sleep deprivation behind bars over the last three decades.
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.
Crises
Middle East
Justice
Death penalty
Iran
On Tuesday, incarcerated people in at least 25 prisons participated in the hunger strike, which has been ongoing for 45 weeks. The campaign has gained momentum, with 68 Iranian and international human rights organizations endorsing it over the past few weeks.
Oceania
Justice
Drugs
Violence
Rehabilitation
New Zealand
Prison reform advocates say the Corrections department is unable to deliver effective rehabilitation for imprisoned people.
In the last financial year, Corrections spent $376 million on rehabilitation - but most of the programmes it ran reduced reoffending by less than 2 percent.
Crises
South America
Minors
Justice
Protest
Torture
Violence
Venezuela
Venezuela’s government on Saturday released some of the thousands of people who were detained during and after deadly protests that followed the July presidential election.
Women
Asia
Minors
Justice
Material conditions
Alternatives
Rehabilitation
Pakistan
Incarcerated mothers constitute a rapidly increasing segment of the prison population in Punjab. According to data released by Punjab Prisons, as of last month, the total number of female prisoners stood at 1,218. Of these, 137 are mothers with children and 104 are under trial.
Crises
Pre-trial detention
Middle East
Justice
Overcrowding
Lebanon
One of the collateral effects of the ongoing war in Lebanon has been the worsening of prison overcrowding, now exceeding 300 percent of capacity. Lebanon’s acting Public Prosecutor Jamal Hajjar issued a directive to expedite the release process for individuals held in pretrial detention.
Who benefits from prison?
Analysis
Africa
Central America and the Caribbean
Europe
Justice
Overcrowding
Prison Insider hosted a workshop at this year’s edition of Concertina on the human and social cost of prison in Haiti, Tunisia, Morocco, and France. Learn more about the key points of this discussion.
Morocco: ink flows
Testimonial
Africa
Justice
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Morocco
Hicham Mansouri is a journalist. He was arrested in 2015 on false charges and imprisoned. He shares his journey, his life in detention, and the investigation he conducted behind bars.
Africa
Crises
Asia
Europe
Access to legal rights
Justice
Mary Lawlor is the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders since 2020. She tells us how her work, despite its limits, can help them, and reflects on the criminalisation they face around the world.
Asia
Justice
Overcrowding
Cambodia
The Ministry of Interior’s General Department of Prisons (GDP) is planning to hold a forum with relevant ministries, embassies, and human rights NGOs to find a comprehensive solution to ongoing overcrowding issues in prisons, as the number of incarcerated people continues to rise.
Africa
Justice
Rehabilitation
Nigeria
The Nigerian Correctional Service on Monday lamented that stigmatisation and societal rejection are forcing some formerly incarcerated people to return to its facilities. “The society is not ready to accept them. So they find it convenient to return to these prisons.”
Europe
Justice
Overcrowding
United Kingdom
Five of the former most senior judges have intervened in the debate over the prison population crisis to urge the government to reverse the trend of locking people up for longer – declaring that ‘radical solutions’ are required to tackle the prison population crisis.
Minors
Oceania
Justice
Material conditions
Violence
Australia
Children have shared their experiences locked up in Banksia Hill Detention Centre in a report that slammed the Western Australian government for “systemic failures”.
Crises
Middle East
Justice
Drugs
Death penalty
Iran
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has voiced deep concern over the recent spate of executions in Iran. According to reports, Iranian authorities have executed at least 29 people across the country in a short period, following 38 executions in July.
United Kingdom: government will not repay ‘bed and board’ deductions to all wrongfully imprisoned
News
Europe
Justice
Rehabilitation
United Kingdom
Some victims of historic miscarriages of justice have been told by the government that bed and board costs for the time they spent in prison will be deducted from their compensation payments. Miscarriage of justice victims say money taken from compensation payouts is additional punishment.