Oceania
Australia: Queensland judge to receive apology after department refused to detail confinement of boy
News
Minors
Oceania
Justice
Australia
The public servant in charge of Queensland’s youth detention system has apologised for a government department’s refusal to provide the children’s court with information related to the prolonged solitary confinement of a boy, 13, with developmental disorders.
The judgment, reported by Guardian Aust…
Source — The Guardian
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Oceania
Mental health
Australia
Prisons are ungodly beasts – hard to understand for the average incarcerated soul, impossible to comprehend for neurodiverse people, who don’t process the world as the majority do.
In my experience, people come out of prisons in worse condition than they went in.
This is most certainly true of 40-y…
Source — The Age
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Oceania
Material conditions
Facilities
New Zealand
Prison labour is being used to build the new parts of Waikeria Prison, the site of a riot 18 months ago.
Source — RNZ
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Oceania
Facilities
New Zealand
“Once there is a take-over, they will be subjected to the pool of challenges we face at the Department of Correctional Services,” acting national commissioner Makgothi Thobakgale said. Thobakgale made the statement when briefing the portfolio committee on their readiness to take over the Mangaung a…
Source — IOL
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Global Prison Trends 2021
Report
Africa
Coronavirus
Women
Asia
Minors
Europe
Middle East
Oceania
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Death penalty
More than eleven million people are imprisoned around the world. Of this number, 70% are awaiting trial, a percentage that has been continuously increasing since 2000.
Source — Penal Reform International
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Global prison crisis
Interview
Africa
Coronavirus
Asia
Europe
Middle East
Oceania
Overcrowding
The world prison population is still increasing. How does the COVID-19 crisis differ from other ongoing or future crises? Are prison environments doomed to be in perpetual crisis?
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Australia: Ageing prisoners
Analysis
Opinion
Coronavirus
Elderly prisoners
Oceania
Health
Alternatives
Australia
ICPR and Prison Insider asked several experts worldwide to share their insights in the framework of the project ‘Understanding and reducing the use of imprisonment in 10 countries’. Natasha Ginnivan discusses the ageing prison population in Australia.
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Oceania
Health
Drugs
New Zealand
Corrections cut its AOD (Alcohol and Other Drug) Brief Support Programme and its AOD Intermediate Treatment Programme in 2018, which has seen a massive drop in the number of prisoners receiving treatment. Corrections continue to offer drug treatment programmes ranging from three to 12 months long,…
Source — RNZ
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Life imprisonment: a sentence in dire need of reform
Analysis
Opinion
Africa
Elderly prisoners
Asia
Europe
Long-term prisoners
Oceania
Justice
Health
Mental health
Drugs
Overcrowding
ICPR and Prison Insider asked several experts worldwide to share their insights in the framework of the project ‘Understanding and reducing the use of imprisonment in 10 countries’. In this piece, Olivia Rope, Executive Director of Penal Reform International (PRI), discusses life sentences, a key p…
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Oceania
Protest
Violence
New Zealand
There are now three investigations under way, as well as a High Court civil rights case by the prisoners against the Attorney General and Corrections, and other claims against the Crown in the Waitangi Tribunal.
Public debate about how prisons are run and their place in society has also heated up.I…
Source — Stuff
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Oceania
Mental health
Violence
New Zealand
Documents obtained by RNZ shows Auckland Women’s Prison planned to keep Mihi Bassett in a segregation unit known as the pound “indefinitely” - breaking laws governing how, and how long, prisoners can be held there.
Guards also threatened to pepper-spray her minutes after she attempted suicide. In o…
Source — RNZ News
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New Zealand: managing uncertainty
Analysis
Coronavirus
Oceania
Material conditions
Activities
Social ties
Work
New Zealand
As the COVID-19 outbreaks around the world suprised most governments, how did the New Zealand authorities respond to the crisis behind the bars? Were prison authorities prepared to avoid the spread of the virus? Which measures were taken and how did them impact prisoners’ lives?
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Women
Oceania
Access to legal rights
Justice
Material conditions
Violence
New Zealand
Corrections broke its own rules and regulations multiple times in its treatment of Mihi Bassett and Karma Cripps, who were gassed in their cells and forced to perform a humiliating ritual to be fed, Manukau District Court Judge David McNaughton says.
His ruling also confirms the women had to remov…
Source — Rnz
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Coronavirus
Oceania
Health
Material conditions
Protest
New Zealand
The recent six-day Waikeria protest highlighted problems at that prison, but it is not unique.
The December Ombudsman’s report on Auckland Prison at Paremoremo similarly identified poor cell ventilation, evening meals served as early as 2.30pm and 3.30pm, prisoners locked up in cells 22–23 hours a…
Source — Newsroom
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Coronavirus
Oceania
Health
Material conditions
Protest
The Covid-19 does not stop at prison gates. Prisoners often live in overcrowded cells and unsanitary contexts, sharing cells.
What measures are taken to guarantee the safety of all prisoners and prison staff? What are the consequences of the pandemic on the living conditions in prisons? — Update 31…
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Nouvelle-Zélande: une prison entièrement détruite après six jours d’émeutes
News
Oceania
Access to legal rights
Material conditions
Protest
Violence
New Zealand
This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: French
Oceania
Access to legal rights
Justice
Material conditions
Philippines
In a rebuke of the Supreme Court’s decision on prisoners’ plea for release during the pandemic, experts said the High Court must “get real” and see prison conditions in the Philippines for what it is – dire, and in need of judicial intervention.
“We should persevere in challenging our Supreme Cour…
Source — Rappler
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Coronavirus
Pre-trial detention
Oceania
Access to legal rights
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Rehabilitation
Australia
Prior to the legislative changes that came into effect in January, Queensland had the most restrictive prisoner voting laws in the country, with inmates barred from participating in state or local government elections.
Now, prisoners serving sentences of less than three years will be given the powe…
Source — ABC
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Global Prison Trends 2020
Report
Africa
Asia
Europe
Middle East
Oceania
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Over 11 million people are held in prisons worldwide. Many face substandard detention conditions. Sentences keep getting longer, in underfunded justice systems. PRI has published its annual report on the state of prisons and the use of imprisonment: Global Prison Trends 2020.
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Coronavirus
Minors
Oceania
Material conditions
Social ties
Australia
Aboriginal people in prisons are going without soap, and children in out-of-home care are being refused contact with their families under “punitive” restrictions enforced due to Covid-19, a report released on Wednesday has said.
Aboriginal people are disproportionately affected by Covid-19 policy r…
Source — The Guardian
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