Many women are released from prison with untreated mental and physical health problems, and no access to a doctor. In pain, they seek solace in illicit drugs. Pictured here, women mourn those who have died of drug overdose in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, B.C.
(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck)
A staggering 70 per cent of female inmates are back in prison within two years of their release. Basic health and dental care could help change this, according to new research.
A far larger proportion of prisoners have histories of dependent substance use than the general population.
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New research has analysed the effectiveness of ten Drug Recovery Wings piloted in British prisons.
To improve on a building like the Don Dale centre, design that properly considers human behaviour needs to take priority for its replacement.
Neda Vanovac/AAP
Architecture can affect behaviour and the choices we make. The brief is out for a centre to replace the Don Dale facility, but word is, it’s ‘a disgrace’. We can do much better.
The prison system is tasked with several purposes: punishment, deterrence, protection and rehabilitation.
AAP/Paul Miller
The largest increases in Australia’s prison numbers have been in remand, Indigenous and women prisoners.
A protest in support of Raymond Suttner released from detention in 1988 by apartheid authorities.
Robert Botha/Times Media Group
In the new introduction to his prison memoir South African anti-apartheid stalwart Raymond Suttner uses the word ‘betrayal’ to explain his break from the ANC.
Reaching out.
PA
Access to loved ones helps reduce reoffending.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions is pushing for stricter sentencing in criminal cases.
AP Photo/Frank Franklin II
Jeff Sessions wants prosecutors to ‘charge and pursue the most serious, readily provable offense.’ That’s a step back to our failed experiment in mass incarceration.
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A new book describes what it’s like to be a transgender woman in a men’s prison.
Ian Brady in police custody in 1965.
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The serial killer Ian Brady has died at the age of 79.
Over a period of 30 years, millions of criminals and political prisoners were sent to Soviet labor camps.
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The recently translated letters of Latvian poet and journalist Arsenii Formakov depict everyday life – and suffering – in the Gulag.
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Serving hot, fresh, nutritious food in hospitals should be considered part of the clinical care.
A glimpse behind bars.
Cropped from krystiano/flickr
The White House is pushing for more private prisons. But do the industry’s promised benefits hold up to scrutiny?
Police training is crucial to crime prevention.
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We need to redirect government spending on crime prevention to programs and policies that the research tells us are most effective.
Iuri Silvestre/Shutterstock.com
Prison food budgets are as low as £1.87 per person per day. This may not be enough to provide adequate nutrition for a pregnant woman and her baby.
Anders Breivik during the appeal hearing in January.
Lise Aaserud/EPA
A Norwegian appeal court has ruled that the mass murderer’s human rights are not being violated by the conditions of his imprisonment.
Inmates wait to enter an assigned cell block at the Deuel Vocational Institution in Tracy, California.
AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File
Repealing a legal provision that excludes people in prison or jail from Medicaid could improve access to treatment, save state and local governments money and reduce recidivism.
The Norwegian government wants the right to keep Anders Behring Breivik i solitary confinement.
Lise Aserud/EPA
The European Court of Human Rights will consider whether Breivik’s human rights have been violated by his solitary detention.
Some homeless youth facing criminal charges in NSW are being accommodated in prisons.
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Homeless children charged in NSW with a criminal offence who are unable to meet bail conditions are being kept in custody. It’s due, in part, to a well-meant but flawed section of the Bail Act.
Deaths after leaving custody are often ‘hidden’ from proper scrutiny.
Peter Macdiarmid/PA Wire
New research suggests 400 people have died from suspected suicide within 48 hours of leaving police detention in the last seven years.
Life-changing.
Dan Kitwood/PA Wire
Little thought is given to the well-being of those in custody.