Prisons

Over the past years, there has been a staggering increase in the prisoner numbers around the world, resulting in horrific conditions of prisons.

Conditions of detention vary from country to country; standards in most countries are very low. Even in the richest developed countries, prisons are overcrowded, they have poor physical infrastructure, lack of hygiene, and medical care, guard abuse and corruption, and violence among inmates. In many countries, prison conditions are life threatening, leading to inmate deaths from disease, malnutrition and physical abuse. In the poorest areas, cells lack ventilation, lighting, or beds. The crowding in some prisons is so bad that prisoners must sleep sitting up. In some developing countries, cells are sold to incoming prisoners by previous occupants or other prisoners. With exceptions, neither the public nor the political leaders are willing to improve the prison conditions by providing financial help. By not allowing human rights groups, jou...