Overcrowding
Europe
Justice
Material conditions
Protest
Overcrowding
Italy
Prisoners in the northern Italian city of Parma are on hunger strike over poor sanitation and overcrowding, the latest in a spate of protests in the country’s jails where cases of suicide and self-harm are at an all-time high. Giorgia Meloni’s hard-right government has responded by threatening to m…
Europe
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Torture
Belgium
The incident in which a prisoner in Antwerp was tortured for several days by cellmates is the result of “scandalous working conditions” for staff and prison overcrowding, unions said on Wednesday.
Europe
Material conditions
Overcrowding
United Kingdom
The head of the Scottish Prison Service Teresa Medhurst has said the jails are too full and she may soon have to say “enough is enough, we cannot take any more”.
Asia
Justice
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Torture
Pakistan
Pakistan’s prisons remain terribly overcrowded and under-resourced, and nascent efforts at progressive reform are stymied by ingrained attitudes of discrimination, including against religious and ethnic minorities.
Europe
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Belgium
Belgian prison staff walked out on strike for 24 hours as part of a joint trade union front, citing overcrowding and “deplorable conditions” for prisoners.
Belgium: diverging pathways
Interview
Europe
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
Alternatives
Belgium
In recent years, authorities have followed a policy of constructing new ‘mega-prisons’. At the same time, the prison estate has welcomed the creation of smaller facilities. The simultaneous development of these opposing approaches raises a number of questions.
Africa
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Alternatives
Senegal
Senegal’s prisons are old, overcrowded and cannot manage the thousands incarcerated for petty crimes. In response, the country has launched a pilot scheme to release hundreds of inmates under electronic supervision.
Middle East
Justice
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Israel
The Knesset National Security Committee voted unanimously to extend Israel’s “incarceration emergency” until mid-January, allowing the country’s correctional system to continue housing prisoners in what would otherwise be considered illegally cramped conditions.
Asia
Mental health
Suicide
Overcrowding
Religion
India
By December 2022, India’s prisons were filled to 131% of capacity, up one percentage point from 2021. This is despite a campaign in July last year to identify undertrial prisoners eligible for release, and the country adding 11 prisons since 2021.
Asia
Minors
Material conditions
Overcrowding
India
Despite several directions from the Supreme Court on the subhuman conditions in prisons across the country, jails continue to remain in a miserable condition. The latest figures show that Delhi and Uttarakhand have the worst situation, with almost twice the capacity of inmates in cells.
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.
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
Central America and the Caribbean
Justice
Overcrowding
El Salvador
El Salvador has imprisoned 1.6% of its 6.3 million citizens. That gives it an incarceration rate triple that of the US and more than double that of Cuba.
Africa
Pre-trial detention
Women
Minors
Foreign prisoners
LGBTQI
Long-term prisoners
Access to legal rights
Discipline
Justice
Health
Mental health
Material conditions
Suicide
Overcrowding
Torture
Violence
Activities
Social ties
Work
Congo - Brazzaville
All there is to know about Congolese prisons in 2023. Key figures, life in detention, references: discover all the data gathered by Prison Insider.
Africa
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Zimbabwe
Former inmates of Zimbabwe’s overburdened prisons say the conditions are inhumane. Activists say government neglect and economic woes are to blame.
Central America and the Caribbean
Overcrowding
Torture
El Salvador
New rules passed by El Salvador’s congress Wednesday will allow courts to try accused gang members in mass trials, in an effort to expedite tens of thousands of cases for those detained under the country’s crackdown on street gangs.