High levels of violence in prisons continue to be reported across the globe, with levels of prison overcrowding, staff shortages, and poor detention conditions contributing to and exacerbating the problem. International commitments to stamp out torture and ill-treatment has not led to investigations or prosecutions, according to a 2023 report by the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture. It found that laws allowing the use of corporal punishment and indefinite solitary confinement, as well as inadequate complaint mechanisms in prisons are obstacles to effective torture investigations. An OHCHR report also noted that prison officials were sometimes exempt from being prosecuted for torture crimes, as in the case of Ghana.
Violence among people in prison is common, and in extreme cases have resulted in relatively frequent fatal clashes between rival gangs as seen in Latin American prisons (see Deaths in prison). In Mexico, it has also been revealed that over the last decade at least 500 riots have been registered each year in state and federal prisons. In efforts to gain greater control over violent prisons, the opening or allocation of high-security facilities have been announced in several countries. As part of a crackdown on gang activity in El Salvador, 2,000 gang members were transferred to a newly built mega prison, also known as the Terrorist Confinement Centre, expected to house up to 40,000 detainees. In Ecuador, in response to recurring violence in prisons, various measures taken by the government included relocating around 2,400 people (triggering an uprising with shooting sprees and bombs at gas stations and police stations) as well as announcing a plan to double the numbers of prison staff.
There is increasing evidence that sexual violence in male prisons remains an under-reported phenomenon. One study has found that legal barriers deter male victims in Malawi’s prisons from filing claims of same-sex rape, as claims may infer that sodomy has occurred which often results in additional charges. Stigma towards male victims has been seen in England and Wales, where some prison officers in a small sample study showed false ideas and bias towards male rape.
Strategies and measures to prevent and address gender-based violence have been patchy. In the US, for example, a 2022 government report found that in at least two-thirds of federal prisons (19 out of 29 facilities) women had been sexually abused by prison employees over the past decade, thus acknowledging systemic failures to detect, prevent and investigate repeated sexual abuse.
The allocation of and violence against transgender people in prison have had increased attention in several countries over recent years.
A recent civil society report shed light on systematic sexual violence against detainees, including transgender people, constituting torture in Egyptian prisons by prison staff and national security personnel. Elsewhere, in Scotland, a highly politicised U-turn was made on allocation of transgender people according to their gender identity, in response to a case where a transgender woman convicted of sexual offences was initially sent to a female prison, sparking public outcry. The crisis led to high press interest and government commitment to review the treatment of trans people in prison and introduce measures to prevent transgender people with a history of violence against women being placed in women’s prisons. In February 2023, England and Wales also set new rules barring transgender women with male genitalia or convicted of sexual or violent offences from women’s prisons.
Solitary confinement is still widely used as a punitive and coercive measure, despite the UN Nelson Mandela Rules’ limits on its use and duration. Persons facing the death penalty are commonly held in solitary confinement for prolonged periods, like in Pakistan, on the grounds of security. In France, similar reasons are provided for holding persons involved in terrorism or organised crime for years. Even though Bulgarian prison authorities limit solitary confinement to a maximum of 14 days, its repeated use after short breaks from five to 24 hours amounts to near consecutive periods of solitary confinement that exceeded 14 days.
Recently, Amnesty International criticised Iceland for ‘vastly overusing’ solitary confinement in pre-trial detention, and also for children and people with mental illnesses. It found that in 2021, 61% of remand detainees were held in solitary confinement for longer than 15 days. Conditions that constitute solitary confinement brought in during the COVID-19 pandemic are reportedly still in place in England and Wales as of early 2023. The Chief Inspector of Prisons stated in a March 2023 report on ‘Weekends in prison’ that around 60% of people in prison have less than two hours out of cell each day on weekends, which is worse than before the pandemic. Also, in New Zealand severe staff shortages have led to the confinement of people to their cells for 23 hours a day still in the early months of 2023, according to the country’s Human Rights Commission.