Testimonials
Interviews
Prison Insider reaches out to individuals with expertise on prison. Researchers, members of associations and institutions, decision-makers, stakeholders and individuals called to intervene in prisons: they all offer diverse viewpoints on imprisonment. This section offers untold insights and specialist opinions exploring various prison-related issues.
Coronavirus
South America
Material conditions
Protest
Torture
Argentina
The country has the third largest prison population on the South American continent.
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France: "escaping the prison diktat"
Interview
Europe
Justice
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Activities
Alternatives
Rehabilitation
France
The number of prisoners is increasing, short sentences are numerous, the recidivism rate is high. How can the entire prison system be rethought?
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Mapping the 'Blind Spots'
Interview
Africa
North America
Women
Asia
Death penalty
CartONG and Planète Réfugiés-Droits de l’Homme (PRDH) united since September 2019 to create maps aimed at raising awareness about the situation of people on death row worldwide. Nine maps have been produced to date. On March 8th, on the occasion of the International Women’s Day, the two organisations…
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Africa: the impossible confinement
Interview
Africa
Coronavirus
Health
Material conditions
In Africa, the COVID-19 epidemic is evolving differently compared to Europe or America. Is the lockdown a solution to the spread of the epidemic?
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Brazil: disregard for life
Interview
Coronavirus
South America
Health
Violence
Brazil
With more than 700,000 prisoners, the ailing prison system has been thrown into turmoil by the ongoing political disorder and the health crisis caused by Covid-19. What is the future for prisons in Brazil, and what are the main challenges at present?
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Africa
Access to legal rights
Justice
Protest
Rehabilitation
Tunisia
Better conditions of imprisonment, effective prison administration and security: a new face for Tunisian prisons. Yasmine Bouagga, sociologist, answers our questions.
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Brazil: drugs, walls and being a woman
Interview
Women
Access to legal rights
Drugs
Brazil
Brazil’s prison population tripled in 20 years, resulting to a total of 770,000 inmates in 2,600 prisons. This is due to an increased recourse to detention. The incarceration rate of 133 in 2000 has grown to 466 in nearly two decades. The narration of women imprisonment seems to follow the same trajectory.…
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Unclear fates behind bars
Interview
Africa
Pre-trial detention
Asia
Europe
Middle East
Oceania
“Since 2000, the overall number of pre-trial detainees has increased by 30%”. They are now up to three million people to be held awaiting trial around the world. What is the purpose of pre-trial detention? How it is used around the world?
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Turkey: a life in isolation
Interview
Europe
Middle East
LGBTI
Access to legal rights
Material conditions
Facilities
Turkey
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) prisoners represent a minority. Their protection is not ensured at all levels and their specific needs are neglected. Hilal Basak Demirbas works at the Society in the Penal System association. She regularly exchanges letters with LGBTI prisoners…
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Italian prisons: facing the crisis
Interview
France: a prison without bars?
Interview
Europe
Long-term prisoners
Facilities
Work
France
Casabianda is currently the only prison without bars on French soil. Guillaume Massart filmed a documentary La liberté (In the Open).
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France: reintegration is everyone’s business
Analysis
Interview
Europe
Justice
Overcrowding
Alternatives
Rehabilitation
France
With more and more prisoners and a substantial recidivism rate, prison does not succeed in protecting society. Although reintegration is one of the missions of the prison administration, it is not considered to be of vital importance. Why?
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Women in prison: a "tough place"
Interview
Women
Europe
Health
Mental health
Women and girls make up 7% of the global prison population, in various proportions. While they represent 3% in African countries, it goes up to 8 % in the Americas, and 6 % in Europe. The highest proportions are found in Hong Kong-China (21%), Laos (18%) or Qatar (15%).
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Europe
Justice
Alternatives
France
In France, restorative justice is a complementary practice to the criminal punishment for an offence. Maiana Bidegain is the codirector of Meeting my aggressor, a documentary that recounts the steps she took to meet the man who raped her when she was a child. We asked her three questions.
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“Parodies of justice” in Iraq
Interview
Foreign prisoners
Middle East
Justice
Death penalty
Torture
Violence
Iraq
The Iraqi justice system has some flaws – quick trials, non-existent legal assistance and judgements based on confessions rather than the evidence. Yet several countries have declined to repatriate their citizens who are accused of terrorism, putting them at risk of torture or the death penalty.
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France: an elusive escape
Interview
Culture
Europe
Activities
France
Natacha Galvez taught art history to inmates at Fleury-Mérogis. She is head of communications for the organisation Art et Prison. She is studying for her doctorate in philosophie esthétique and her thesis is on the creation of art in the prison environment. The following is our interview with her.
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Uruguay: rethinking the prison system
Interview
South America
It was a risky gamble that paid off for Luis Parodi, director for seven years now of Unit 6 of the Punta de Rieles prison in Montevideo. According to him, “Prison denies debate, and consequently denies life. There are absurd orders all the time.” This unit, which aims to resemble the outside world, stands…
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Europe
Belgium
Belgium was condemned on 24 April 2019 and will have to compensate several prisoners in the De-Radex section of the Ittre prison. Prisoners suspected to be recruiting members for jihadist organisations are isolated in these sections.
Nicolas Cohen is a lawyer at the Brussels Bar and a member of the board…
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Madagascar: out of sight
Interview
Africa
Women
Material conditions
Activities
Social ties
Madagascar
Elise Maillot is 30 years old. She has been visiting prisons for the last two years. She was in Madagascar, her home country, at the end of 2018. There, she visited the Manjakandriana prison for women. Prison Insider asked her three questions.
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France: prisons and mental health
Interview
Europe
Health
Mental health
France
People with mental illness are over represented in the prison population. This group is particularly vulnerable and subjected to violence and abuse. Prison psychiatry is a sector that has undergone significant changes lately, in France and elsewhere. Where do we stand right now?
In July 2014, Adeline…
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