A prolonged gun battle between rival gangs inside Ecuador's largest prison was the latest violence to hit the Litoral Penitentiary, which recently saw the country's worst prison bloodbath.
Deaths from drugs and alcohol have increased by more than 600% in state prisons in the last two decades, giving lie to the idea that sending addicts to prison can help them stop using.
As part of civil lawsuit settlement, the New Jersey Department of Corrections has agreed to make it customary for prisoners to be assigned a prison stay in line with their gender identity.
The debit cards can't be processed in prisons so inmates can't deposit their payments. The IRS has acknowledged the problem, but hasn't offered an immediate solution.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Nevada prison official says 17 inmates from the state being held at a private prison in Arizona have tested positive for a second time for the new coronavirus.
Dr. Christine Montross says people with serious mental illnesses in the U.S. are far more likely to be incarcerated than to be treated in a psychiatric hospital. Her new book is Waiting for an Echo.
"Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, we had already been receiving reports on the terrible conditions in the jails that made sickness a normal thing," says a leading Philippine human rights lawyer.
Indiana prisoners say they can't protect themselves from the virus, as the governor resists calls to reduce overcrowding. "Scared for our lives," says an inmate.
The U.N. human rights chief says authorities should look for ways to release people in detention who are especially vulnerable to the disease, such as those who are elderly or who have health issues.
Some prisons are waiving fees for hygiene supplies and county jails are releasing certain inmates early to combat the potential threat posed by the Covid-19 virus.
Inmates and guards don't have the option of staying home during a coronavirus outbreak, so detention centers risk becoming "incubators" for the disease. Some are scrambling to mitigate the risk.
Sarah and Andy were in love and also advocates, determined to keep drug users from dying. But when his own addiction reemerged, Andy's fear of returning to prison kept him from the best treatment.
The Justice Department's civil rights division will examine conditions at four state prisons, including the oldest, Parchman, where a prison riot broke out on Dec. 29.
For people who have been incarcerated, head and neck tattoos are often a barrier to reentering society and getting jobs. Some former inmates are removing their tattoos to help leave the past behind.
An 8-year-old girl was strip searched at Buckingham Correctional Center last month. A prison spokesperson says the prison staffer who approved the search didn't have the authority to do so.
The state has started to reduce overdose deaths by offering counseling and medication for opioid addiction in prison. Research finds the treatment helps inmates avoid relapse after release.
A U.S. District judge issued the ruling Tuesday in a class action lawsuit brought by inmates who argued the prisons' conditions were cruel and unusual punishment.
The abbreviated story of Martin Sostre, a revolutionary prisoner who challenged and changed the American prison system from his cell in solitary confinement.
Several states across the U.S. are curbing their use of solitary confinements in prison. But in New York, corrections officers say it's a necessary tool to keep the guards and prisons safe.
A group of inmates in Texas says poorly ventilated, steel and concrete cellblocks bake like ovens. The inmates are suing the state prison system, arguing the heat is killing older and infirm convicts.
Nuevo León Gov. Jaime Rodriguez Calderón, whose state includes the Topo Chico prison in Monterrey, says some 12 people were hospitalized following Wednesday night's riot.
![Imam Yannis Warrach helps prisoners resist radicalization at a top-security prison in Normandy. He says radicals recruit newcomers by "brainwash[ing]" them "little by little."](https://knpr.org/sites/default/files/public/styles/thumbnail/public/images/npr-story/534128683_447409346.jpg?itok=zCBxPqMB "Eleanor Beardsley, NPR")
