Torture
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.
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.
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.
North America
Mental health
Torture
United States
The research is clear – it’s bad for prison violence, terrible for inmates and poses increased risks for society.
Oceania
Torture
Australia
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.
Central African Republic: witchcraft
Interview
Africa
Women
Justice
Torture
Central African Republic
Representations of witchcraft are very prevalent in Central African society. The penal code nevertheless criminalises certain practices of witchcraft and charlatanism. The same people are targeted over and over again: women, especially those who are older and isolated. Interview.
Europe
Mental health
Torture
United Kingdom
Inspectorate calls for urgent improvements, particularly in treatment of prisoners with mental health problems.
Asia
Justice
Torture
Myanmar (Burma)
Africa
Material conditions
Torture
South Africa
The Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services (JICS) and the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) are at loggerheads over findings of an investigation into allegations of abuse of inmates of Indian descent jailed in Phoenix during the July 2021 unrest.
Africa
Overcrowding
Torture
Congo - Brazzaville
Overcrowded prisons, over-use of remand, cases of torture and mistreatment, horrific detention conditions: in the Congo, prisoners’ rights are barely respected. Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture (ACAT), an NGO in the Congo protecting human rights, is pushing for change. Interview…
Central America and the Caribbean
Torture
Honduras
Authorities in Honduras forced inmates to sit half-naked in tight rows while they searched for contraband in a sweep of prisons Monday, similar to the harsh tactics of neighbouring El Salvador.
The military police — who have taken charge of the nation’s prisons — fanned out across several prisons,…
Asia
Death penalty
Torture
North Korea
A two-year-old North Korean was sentenced to life in prison after officials found a Bible in the toddler’s parents’ possession, as the totalitarian regime continued to “execute” and “torture” religious worshippers.
As many as 70,000 Christians are imprisoned in North Korea, according to a new Inter…
Minors
Oceania
Material conditions
Torture
Violence
Australia
The troubled Banksia Hill youth detention centre is facing fresh scrutiny amid allegations a girl was sexually harassed by custodial officers. Detainees at Banksia Hill and Casuarina Prison’s Unit 18 youth facility claim they have been subjected to excessive use of force, ongoing lockdowns, forced…
Africa
Women
Torture
Violence
Egypt
High walls, mobile prison, overcrowded rooms, and no regard for one’s bodily autonomy: this is what many women and girls deal with in Egypt’s prisons, only for being human rights activists, journalists, or political opponents to the regime.
Over the past seven years, Egypt’s prisons, especially the…
Asia
Material conditions
Torture
Violence
North Korea
Extrajudicial executions, rape, forced abortions, jail without trial, torture, starvation rations that leave prisoners so hungry some turn to eating insects.
Africa
Access to legal rights
Torture
Violence
Egypt
The new prison of Badr which Egypt touted as a model for reform denies inmates healthcare
