State inspectors identify ‘substandard conditions’ at Bland Correctional Center
More than a dozen visits to Virginia prisons by state inspectors during 2025 show continuing staff vacancies and problematic conditions of imprisonment. The Bland Correctional Center is among seven facilities requesting $76 million for HVAC upgrades. The ombudsman’s office was created in 2024 through state legislation after men at Red Onion State Prison committed self-harm.
Ecuador's prison system has undergone a profound transformation over the past decade. Criminal groups have established parallel systems of rule within prisons. Prisoners have become arenas of violent competition between criminal groups. State responses to the prison crisis have largely relied on militarisation and emergency measures.
Tragic Deaths in Ecuador Prisons Highlight Growing Crisis: Authorities Fail to Provide Answers
There were 564 deaths in Penitenciaría del Litoral prison in Guayaquil, Ecuador, between January and September this year. Many of the deaths were linked to tuberculosis and severe malnutrition. The penitentiary was militarized after President Daniel Noboa declared Ecuador under an “internal armed conflict” in 2024.
Robert Earl Council, Melvin Ray and Raoul Poole were moved from their existing prisons to solitary confinement at Kilby Correctional Facility outside Montgomery, Alabama, two weeks ago. They were featured in "The Alabama Solution," a documentary about the state prison system. Some groups have encouraged a new prison labor strike this year. The Alabama Department of Corrections cited security concerns.
Families in Maine scramble to halt ICE’s transfer of detainees out of state
More than 200 people were arrested during a federal immigration crackdown in Maine this week. Immigration attorneys were overwhelmed with phone calls from worried family members trying to track down their loved ones. Most immigrants lost their first layer of legal protections in September, when the federal board of immigration appeals ruled that people who crossed the US border unlawfully …
There are 10,023 people incarcerated by the Idaho Department of Correction as of Jan. 1. The in-state capacity is just over 8,200. The state operates 10 prisons. The cost of operating the state's 10 prisons is on the rise. The agency's budget for county and out-of-state placement of people who are incarcerated is expected to grow just over 69%.
MPs flag issues after visit to women’s prisoner facility in Limpopo
Parliament's portfolio committee on correctional services conducted an oversight visit at Thohoyandou Correctional Centre in Limpopo. The committee will visit all correctional facilities in the province as part of its mandate to oversee the department of correctional services. It also inspected the mother-and-child unit at the centre, which houses pregnant women and mothers with children under the age of two.
Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla visited California's largest immigration detention center earlier this month. He was shocked by the lack of medical care and mental health care for detainees. Padilla has introduced the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act to address these issues. He also wants to investigate the shooting of Renée Good and Alex Pretti.
Inmate accused of providing drugs in prison overdose case unlikely to serve additional time
Manarion Fuse, 22, pleaded no contest to a felony drug possession charge in exchange for the dismissal of the remaining charges against him and a sentence that won't change his initial parole date next May. Anthony Richards' February 2025 death was ruled an overdose. Fuse is the first person to enter a plea for a crime linked to one of …
Michael Along and Mathew Galliher are being sued for their roles in inmate Robert L. Brooks’ death in December 2024. The state Attorney General’s Office must cover the legal fees for them. Several other former corrections officers named as defendants in the wrongful death lawsuit have filed similar lawsuits against the state to get it to pay their legal bills.