Health
Africa
Elderly prisoners
Health
Overcrowding
South Sudan
Health officials in Lakes State have reported cases of chickenpox and suspected measles at Rumbek Central Prison, with 24 infections identified among incarcerated people. State Health Director General said that two elderly were severely infected, while the rest were between 25 and 30 years old.
Tunisia: relentless harassment
Testimonial
Africa
Pre-trial detention
Women
Access to legal rights
Health
Material conditions
Violence
Social ties
Tunisia
Sonia Dahmani is a lawyer who has made the defence of women’s rights her personal crusade. She was violently arrested over a comment made during a media appearance, and immediately imprisoned. Her sister, Ramla, has become her voice. This is her account.
Asia
Long-term prisoners
Justice
Health
Violence
Religion
Azerbaijan
Multiple imprisoned people have gone on hunger strike over the last two weeks. The first person to do so, prominent opposition politician Tofig Yagublu, a member of the opposition Musavat Party, announced his ‘death hunger strike’ in March after being sentenced to nine years in prison.
Asia
Health
Mental health
Suicide
Armenia
Eight people have died in penitentiaries in the first quarter of 2025, with half of the cases resulting from suicide. In comparison, 2024 saw 12 deaths in prisons, all officially classified as natural causes, with ten occurring in civilian hospitals, according to the Penitentiary Service.
Central America and the Caribbean
Foreign prisoners
Long-term prisoners
Access to legal rights
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Torture
Social ties
El Salvador
Hundreds of Venezuelans who were deported to El Salvador from the United States in recent days could face long or indefinite detention in a prison system rife with human rights abuses, according to attorneys and experts on the region.
North America
Minors
Justice
Health
Mental health
Drugs
Violence
United States
Jones is among thousands of people seeking accountability under a new state law that eliminated the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse claims. It was passed in 2023 with the Catholic Church abuse scandal in mind.
Asia
Health
Material conditions
Facilities
Protest
Overcrowding
Alternatives
Indonesia
President Prabowo Subianto’s pledge to construct a remote island prison for corrupt officials has been met with scepticism from experts, who argued that deeper structural reforms of the prison system were needed to address chronic overcrowding and underfunding.
North America
Health
Material conditions
Violence
Social ties
Work
United States
Censorship, threats, and stints in solitary are among the acts of retaliation prison reporters face. Busby was sentenced to seventy-five years in 1999. Since then, he’s worked as a writer and journalist, including a stint as a staff reporter for the Texas prison newspaper The Echo.
Crises
Women
Middle East
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Torture
Violence
Work
Syria
Syrian journalist Hanin Gebran details the horrific conditions she endured in Assad’s prisons, shedding light on the gendered violence and torture faced by women journalists under the regime.
Women
Europe
Minors
Health
Mental health
Alternatives
United Kingdom
Pregnant women should not be sent to jail unless it is “unavoidable”, according to new sentencing guidelines. The guidance, published by the Sentencing Council for England and Wales, has been hailed by campaigners as a huge milestone.
Women
Europe
Health
United Kingdom
The Ministry of Justice is investigating claims by two incarcerated female that they were handcuffed to male officers during labour, antenatal appointments, and intimate vaginal examinations. The alleged incidents occurred between 2021 and 2023 at HMP Bronzefield in west London.
Malaysia: family wants Suhakam probe on Taiping Hospital, prison after incarcerated person’s death
News
Asia
Justice
Health
Violence
Social ties
Malaysia
The family of an imprisoned person has urged the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) to investigate Taiping Hospital and Taiping prison over the circumstances surrounding his death. Sisiliya Joseph, the sister of M Vijian, alleged that authorities concealed the injuries he sustained.
Women
Asia
Minors
Access to legal rights
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Torture
Social ties
Pakistan
Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights expressed serious concerns over the lack of basic facilities and overcrowded conditions in jails and the delay in provision of justice.
Crises
Middle East
Access to legal rights
Health
Material conditions
Torture
Violence
Religion
Israel
The Prisoners’ and Freed Prisoners’ Affairs Authority has condemned the “tragic” conditions faced by detained Palestinian in Shatta prison. The authority described a litany of human rights violations, including brutal beatings, frequent use of tear gas, and inadequate food provisions.
Türkiye: broken spirits
Testimonial
Women
Europe
Health
Mental health
Alternatives
United Kingdom
Figures obtained through freedom of information (FoI) requests to NHS trusts providing healthcare to women’s prisons in England found 12% of women receiving care relating to pregnancy in 2023 were diagnosed with the condition, triple the national figure of 4%.
Dominican Republic: officials cram thousands of people facing no charges into overcrowded prisons
News
Central America and the Caribbean
Pre-trial detention
Long-term prisoners
Access to legal rights
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Dominican Republic
They’re known as “frog men,” incarcerated people who are forced to sleep on prison floors, often next to overflowing toilets or holes in the ground that serve as one. Thousands of them are crammed into the country’s severely overcrowded prisons, some operating at seven times their capacity.
Women
Asia
Minors
Foreign prisoners
Access to legal rights
Justice
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Pakistan
Punjab Home Department has taken a commendable step by amending the 125-year-old prison rules under the vision of Punjab’s chief minister for comprehensive jail reforms. According to the spokesperson, in the first phase, 138 jail rules were revised to meet modern standards.
Middle East
Access to legal rights
Health
Social ties
Iran
An incarcerated person has died in an Iranian jail after officials denied him medical treatment and placed him in quarantine as punishment for protesting his lack of care. Hassan Damani, 33, died on February 12 in Lajvardi Prison in Iranshahr, according to human rights groups.
