Testimonials
Testimonials
Prison Insider invites witnesses to shout out, to describe their sadness and share their joys. We invite stories of resistance and want to provide a space where the silent voices of prisoners can be heard
Niger: the cost of living
Testimonial
Africa
Pre-trial detention
Health
Material conditions
Facilities
Overcrowding
Violence
Niger
Two prisoners attest to their conditions in overpopulated prisons. A way to survive: pay, every month, for access to better prison conditions.
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Culture
Europe
Long-term prisoners
Activities
United Kingdom
“Being encased within steel and mortar shouldn’t alter the fundamental essence of a human being. Amid the brutality and apathy of the prison system, some find the ability to be creative” (Steeldoorstudios exposes the challenges of the creative process in prison.)
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Europe
Material conditions
Work
Switzerland
Georges was incarcerated for 12 months in the prison of Fribourg while awaiting sentencing. He recounts how a day in prison unfolds.
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North America
Long-term prisoners
Mental health
United States
Kyle H. has been incarcerated since 2001 and is serving a life sentence. He is held at River North Correctional Center in the state of Virginia. He bravely tells how an ordinary day goes by, when voices cannot stop, and when he becomes a stranger to himself.
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Cuba: Humiliation non-stop
Testimonial
Central America and the Caribbean
Foreign prisoners
Access to legal rights
Justice
Health
Material conditions
Torture
Cuba
Jacques was arrested in February 2017 by the Cuban criminal justice system and was immediately incarcerated in a state owned highly secured prison, held incommunicado for 48 days. Her daughter became fatherless overnight.
He was transferred to France in September 2019. He narrates to Prison Insider his…
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USA: a nation of prisons and pandemics
Testimonial
Coronavirus
North America
Health
Overcrowding
United States
The United States Penitentiary Canaan holds about 1,300 people. Qwantay A. is one of them. He has been incarcerated for 16 years and will be released in 2034. He drew some parallels between the coronavirus pandemic and mass incarceration, and shared his thoughts with Prison Insider.
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France: "They’ve put us back in prison"
Testimonial
Coronavirus
Europe
Health
Rehabilitation
Work
France
Samy is detained on partial release in the west of France, in Le Mans. It is normally possible for these prisoners to go out during the week, notably to seek employment. Faced with the coronavirus pandemic and to limit social contact, those who are on partial release have been placed in detention. Samy…
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Belgium: locked-up outside
Investigations
Testimonial
Europe
Long-term prisoners
Rehabilitation
Belgium
How does someone truly become free?
Marcus spent his childhood in a children’s home before serving more than 20 years in prison. He has never known anything other than confinement.
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Africa
Health
Material conditions
Overcrowding
Burundi
D. is incarcerated in the Mpimba prison. He is one of over 4000 inmates in a dilapidated establishment that was designed to hold up to 800. He describes his day to day life.
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United States of America: cheese on a trap
Testimonial
North America
Long-term prisoners
Justice
Drugs
United States
Qwantay will be released in 2034. Prison Insider asked him what his first day in prison was like. This is what he told us.
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Asia
Death penalty
Violence
Pakistan
Safeer was sentenced to death. He served 18 years and has now been released on bail to await his Supreme Court appeal. Excerpts.
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North America
Long-term prisoners
Justice
United States
Kyle H. has been incarcerated since 2001 and is serving a life sentence.He tells Prison Insider how his days go by.
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DRC: “Prison teaches looking backwards”
Testimonial
Africa
Death penalty
Violence
Cameroon
A team of lawyers met 37 inmates who were sentenced to death and are being held in various Cameroonian prisons. Excerpts.
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Japan: ”her present fate is to rot in solitude”
Testimonial
Women
Asia
Death penalty
Japan
C. Hayashi has been visiting his mother on death row for 16 years. He talks about her conditions of detention.
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Iran: a child of the gallows
Testimonial
Middle East
Death penalty
Iran
Homan was born in prison. Both his parents were executed. He then spent three years in prison. This is his story.
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“I am a woman, do not lock me up with men!”
Testimonial
