Prison

Residents must sign in and out at a security gate, and vehicles and bags are routinely searchedGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastHundreds of evacuees from remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory have been housed behind temporary fences and denied visitors after being forced to evacuate their homes in the most vicious wet season on record.In March, the Daly River in the NT reached a record peak of 23.93 metres, forcing families from Palumpa and Nauiyu to flee for the second time in four weeks. Continue reading...

Sakharov prize winner was given eight-year sentence after process widely condemned as politically motivatedThe Polish-Belarusian journalist Andrzej Poczobut, the 2025 Sakharov prize winner, has been freed after five years in a Belarusian penal colony as part of a US-brokered multi-country swap deal.His release has been confirmed by Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, who posted a picture of him on social media, saying: “Andrzej Poczobut is free! Welcome to your Polish home, my friend.” Continue reading...

Dances With Wolves actor assaulted Indigenous women and girls, exploiting his position as a spiritual leaderNathan Chasing Horse has been sentenced to life in prison for sexually assaulting Indigenous women and girls.A Nevada judge gave the Dances With Wolves actor his sentence Monday. A jury had previously convicted him of 13 charges, mostly related to sexual assault. He was accused by three women, including one who was 14 when the assaults began. He was acquitted on some charges. Continue reading...

Strict protocols violated by corrections staff who wrongly believed sexual assault cases were ‘closed’, ombudsman findsFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastMen charged with alleged prison rapes were allowed to stay in shared cells – against strict protocols – by Queensland corrections staff who mistakenly believed their cases were “closed” and that they posed no risk, a report by the state’s ombudsman has found.The ombudsman’s inspection report of the Brisbane correctional centre raises a number of concerns about the facility, including extensive overcrowding, health facilities that are not fit for purpose and complaints that chicken served to detainees and staff is often undercooked. Continue reading...

• The Alabama Department of Corrections terminated its $1 billion health care contract with Tennessee-based YesCare for failure to adequately fulfill contractual duties. • The contract, awarded in 2023 as a 5-year agreement, was dissolved due to the company's inability to meet performance standards for prison health services. • The termination raises questions about oversight of private contractors providing essential health care services within the correctional system.

Rapper, jailed over Megan Thee Stallion shooting, alleges he was ‘knowingly’ housed with prisoner with violent historyThe rapper Tory Lanez, who is serving a 10-year prison sentence over the shooting of fellow hip-hop artist Megan Thee Stallion, has filed a federal lawsuit against California corrections officials, seeking $100m after being stabbed in prison.Lanez, whose name is Daystar Peterson, said in court papers that a fellow inmate at California correctional institution in Tehachapi stabbed him approximately 16 times on 12 May 2025 using a “home-made” shank. Peterson said he suffered stab wounds to his face, head, torso and back, resulting in “permanent scarring, along with two collapsed lungs”. Continue reading...

Paul Quinn convicted in light of DNA evidence from 2003 attack that led to notorious miscarriage of justiceA man who evaded justice for more than two decades has been found guilty of the 2003 rape for which Andrew Malkinson was wrongfully jailed for 17 years.Paul Quinn, 52, was convicted by a jury on Friday after a fresh forensic analysis found traces of his DNA on the victim. Continue reading...

James Heaps was first sentenced in 2023, but verdict was overturned after appeals court found he was denied a fair trialSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxA former University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) gynecologist pleaded guilty to 13 felony sexual abuse charges on Tuesday in connection with the sexual assault of several patients over his career, and was sentenced to 11 years in prison.James Heaps was originally sentenced in 2023 to 11 years in prison after being convicted of five counts of sexual battery and penetration involving two patients. That sentence was overturned by an appeals court in February, which ruled that Heaps was denied a fair trial because the judge did not share with his attorneys a note from the court’s foreman sharing concerns about a juror’s English proficiency. Continue reading...

Charlie Taylor, inspector of prisons for England and Wales, says dealers should be isolated and ‘assertively managed’Jailed criminals who are flooding prisons with drugs should be isolated like radical extremists and “assertively managed”, the England and Wales prisons watchdog has said.Charlie Taylor, HM inspector of prisons, said major dealers were living “consequence-free” in jail when they should be separated from the majority of inmates, subjected to regular searches for phones, and punished and rewarded according to their behaviour. Continue reading...

• Cuba announced the release of 2,010 prisoners on April 4 following intense US pressure linked to the island's worsening energy crisis. • Gesture aims to ease bilateral tensions as Trump administration leverages geopolitical leverage. • Amid blackouts and shortages, release signals Havana's bid for concessions or sanctions relief.

Budget proposal released on Friday outlines president’s desire to revive former federal prison in San Francisco BayDonald Trump is asking for $152m to restore Alcatraz, a former federal prison off the coast of San Francisco, according to a budget proposal released on Friday for the 2027 fiscal year.Last May, Trump first called upon the Department of Justice, the FBI and Homeland Security to rebuild the prison. He heaped praise on Alcatraz’s reputation in a Truth Social post. Continue reading...

Havana calls releases a humanitarian Holy Week gesture as Russian tankers allowed to reach oil-starved islandCuba has announced plans to pardon 2,010 prisoners as a “humanitarian” gesture during Holy Week, amid heightened US pressure on the government in Havana.The announcement on Thursday came days after Donald Trump eased a de facto oil blockade of Cuba by allowing a Russian tanker to deliver crude oil to the nation. Continue reading...

Decision came after hearing in which Subramanyam Vedam, 64, said he didn’t kill Thomas Kinser when he was 19A judge has cleared the way for the potential release of an Indian citizen who was taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody last year after his Pennsylvania murder conviction was overturned following four decades in prison.The decision came the day after the four-hour hearing in which Subramanyam Vedam insisted he did not fatally shoot Thomas Kinser in 1980 and was questioned by a US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) lawyer. Vedam participated in the hearing remotely from the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Greens MLC Sue Higginson tells parliament that Corrective Services knew things ‘which made it very clear they had monitored our conversation’Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA New South Wales parliamentarian has alleged prison officers unlawfully listened to her calls with inmates and then threatened those who had sought her help.The Greens’ justice spokesperson, Sue Higginson, alleged that her phone calls were “routinely” monitored despite it being against the law for corrective services officers to listen to calls between parliamentarians and prisoners. Continue reading...

Nicole Daedone, co-founder of OneTaste Inc, also ordered to forfeit $12m, and seven victims were awarded restitutionThe leader of a sex-focused women’s wellness company that promoted “orgasmic meditation” was sentenced to nine years in federal prison for a scheme that a judge said exploited vulnerable women and coerced them into performing sex acts with the company’s clients and investors.Nicole Daedone, co-founder of OneTaste Inc, was also ordered to forfeit $12m, and seven victims were awarded roughly $890,000 in restitution, federal prosecutors said. Continue reading...

Petition seeks accountability from Salvadorian authorities over human rights violations at notorious Cecot facilityA group of 18 Venezuela men whom the US expelled a notorious Salvadorian mega-prison are demanding that Salvadorian authorities be held internationally accountable for violation of human rights – detailing new allegations of torture, sexual assault and medical neglect.A new petition, filed on Thursday before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, alleges that El Salvador violated the human rights of these men, who were expelled to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot) last year without charge. Continue reading...

Legislation initiated by far-right Otzma Yehudit party drew mounting criticism from opponents and rights groups as it moved through the KnessetIsrael’s parliament has advanced a contentious bill to impose the death penalty on Palestinians convicted of terrorism to its final vote, after the Knesset’s national security committee approved the measure on Tuesday.The legislation, initiated by the far-right Otzma Yehudit party led by National Security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has drawn sharp criticism from opponents who warn it would mark a significant escalation in Israel’s penal policy. Members of Otzma Yehudit have worn noose-shaped pins in support of the bill. Continue reading...

About a quarter of prison places are unsafe, Ministry of Justice admitsThe government has reneged on a pledge to make all prison cells fire-safe or take them out of use by the end of next year, meaning tens of thousands of prisoners in England and Wales will remain at risk.The Ministry of Justice has admitted it has known for almost two decades that about a quarter of prison places are unsafe, putting the people housed in affected cells at risk. Continue reading...

Clare Dupree, 48, who had severe mental illness, died after using a vape to start blaze at prison in GloucestershireThere were “missed opportunities” that could have prevented the death of a woman with severe mental illness from “sustained inhalation of smoke” after a fire in her prison cell, an inquest has found.Clare Dupree, 48, from Cardiff, died after she used a vape to start a fire at HMP Eastwood Park in Gloucestershire just after Christmas 2022. Continue reading...

Prisons minister says more women should be diverted away from jail – and new board aims to bring about that changePat had been in trouble with the police before, when she was 16 and had been spat out of the care system with no qualifications, no housing and no support. Nearly 50 years later, she heard a knock on the door again.There had been a fire in the estate where she lived, and another resident said she had seen Pat start it. “I was in the police station for nearly two days before I got to the magistrates court,” she said, worrying one finger over the top of her hand. “The magistrate said he was sending it to the crown court, and sending me to prison, basically.” Continue reading...

Tommy Thompson refused to give up the location of 500 missing coins found in a historic shipwreckA US treasure hunter who was imprisoned for 10 years after refusing to reveal the location of missing gold coins has been released from prison, without officials apparently ever learning where that gold is.Tommy Thompson – a renowned salvager who in 1998 found the long-lost, so-called Ship of Gold near South Carolina – was freed from federal prison on 4 March, records and reports recently indicated. Continue reading...

Death comes two months after Alford was jailed for eight-and-a-half years for sexually assaulting two teenage girlsThe actor John Alford has died in prison two months after being jailed for sexually assaulting two teenage girls. Alford, 54, was jailed for eight-and-a-half years in January after he was found guilty of the assaults which occurred during a party at a friend’s home. The actor, who appeared in the drama London’s Burning and BBC show Grange Hill, died at HMP Bure, Norfolk, on Friday, the Prison Service said. Alford, who was tried under his real name, John Shannon, was convicted of four counts of sexual activity with a 14-year-old girl and charges of sexual assault and assault by penetration relating to a 15-year-old girl at a property in Hertfordshire in 2022. Jurors heard during the trial that he had sexually assaulted the girls while they were drunk after a night out at the pub. A Prison Service spokesperson said: “John Shannon died in prison on March 13 2026. “As with all deaths in custody, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will investigate.” Continue reading...