Category Archives: Prisons

Footage of guards holding down and putting spit hood on disabled NT prisoner shown at inquest

Posted on by

Wayne Hunt didn’t receive full medical assessment after seizure in cell and died days later, coroner hears

Confronting footage of a disabled inmate being roughly handled and placed in a spit hood by prison guards after an epileptic seizure has been played at an inquest into his death.

Wayne Hunt struggled and yelled as Northern Territory corrections officers pinned him down, held him tightly by the head and put him in handcuffs and a spit hood, the inquest before coroner Elisabeth Armitage has heard.

Continue reading...

Prisoners spending entire jail term in police cells as Victoria’s justice system buckles

Posted on by

Prisoners in police cells often have less access to healthcare and less chance of being visited by family and lawyers

In winter this year, a young Aboriginal man with a history of self-harm who had been remanded in custody in Melbourne was told he would be moving cells.

But he was not shifted across the corridor or to another building nearby: he was driven 300km to the police cells in Wodonga.

Continue reading...

Chile to end Pinochet henchmen’s pampered prison life of tennis and barbecues

Posted on by

Punta Peuco – where military human rights offenders enjoy privileged conditions – set to join public prison network

Inmates at an infamous high-security military prison in Chile, which houses the perpetrators of dictatorship-era human rights crimes, are set to lose their privileged conditions under plans to incorporate the prison into the public prison network.

President Gabriel Boric announced on Monday that Punta Peuco is being transformed into a regular prison to help deal with overcrowding in the penitentiary system.

Continue reading...

Sweden set to rent cells in Estonian jails as it runs out of room for its prisoners

Posted on by

Centre-right government rejects long-established national policies focused on rehabilitation and reintegration

Sweden is moving away from criminal rehabilitation in favour of US-style mass incarceration, experts have said, as the country prepares to rent places in Estonian jails to help house its rapidly expanding prison population.

The move to outsource prison places is one of a slew of policies aimed at transforming the Swedish criminal justice system as the centre-right government struggles to tackle gang violence and prisons warn of overcrowding.

Continue reading...

NSW government admits it is vicariously liable for prison guard’s sexual abuse of female inmate

Posted on by

Court hears both parties in class action against state of NSW over conduct of Wayne Astill ‘keen to explore the possibility of settlement’

The New South Wales government has admitted in an ongoing class action that it is vicariously liable for former notorious prison guard Wayne Astill’s sexual abuse of a female inmate.

Court documents filed in the NSW supreme court earlier this month also reveal the NSW Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) admits that “from time to time” some guards knew about “some inappropriate conduct” by Astill towards inmates.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Female prisoner allegedly sexually abused for years by prison guard settles with NSW government

Posted on by

Woman alleged she was raped when the department of justice already knew Wayne Astill was ‘abusing his position towards female inmates’

A female prisoner allegedly sexually abused for years by a senior prison guard will be paid an undisclosed sum as part of a New South Wales government settlement in an ongoing class action.

Court documents filed to the NSW supreme court reveal that the woman, known as GP1, alleged she was raped when the department of justice already knew Wayne Astill, a prison guard, “was abusing his position toward female inmates”.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Biased laws and poverty driving huge rise in female prisoners – report

Posted on by

First such study finds laws on abortion, debt and dress help increase rate of women being jailed twice as fast as for men

Poverty, abuse and discriminatory laws are driving a huge rise in the number of women in prison globally, according to a new report.

With the rise of the far right and an international backlash against women’s rights, the research said there was a risk that laws would increasingly be used to target women, forcing more behind bars.

Continue reading...

Fears grow for health of social media influencer arrested on live TV in Sierra Leone

Posted on by

Hawa Hunt’s detention a month ago was politically motivated, say daughter and rights groups, who also raise concerns about her treatment in jail

Fears are mounting over the mental and physical health of a social media influencer who has been in prison in Sierra Leone for more than a month after she was arrested on live television.

Hawa Hunt, a dual Canadian and Sierra Leonean citizen, was arrested on 22 December while starring in House of Stars, a reality TV show, for comments she made on social media about the president of Sierra Leone and the first lady in May 2023.

Continue reading...

Latin America’s rise in tuberculosis linked to imprisonment rates

Posted on by

Study warns region’s exponential rise in incarceration is fuelling the disease, with cases increasing by 19% between 2015 and 2022

High incarceration rates in Latin America – the region with the world’s fastest-growing prison population – are exacerbating tuberculosis in a region that is bucking the global trend for falling incidents of the disease, experts have warned.

A study published in The Lancet Public Health journal has estimated that, contrary to previous assumptions, HIV/Aids is not the primary risk factor for tuberculosis in the region – as it remains in Africa, for example – but rather imprisonments.

Continue reading...

Iran frees rapper Toomaj Salehi jailed for supporting protests

Posted on by

Rapper who spoke up for Woman, Life, Freedom movement is released five months after death sentence overturned

The Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi, who was sentenced to death in April for his support of anti-regime protests, has been released from prison by the Iranian authorities.

Salehi was sentenced by a revolutionary court in April for backing the Woman, Life, Freedom protests in September 2022 after the death of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman who died in police custody.

Continue reading...

Women arrested by Taliban for begging report rape and killings in Afghan jails

Posted on by

Draconian new laws allow mass incarceration of women and children forced to beg because of work ban

Destitute Afghan women arrested for begging under draconian new Taliban laws have spoken of “brutal” rapes and beatings in detention.

Over the past few months, many women said they had been targeted by Taliban officials and detained under anti-begging laws passed this year. While in prison, they claim they were subjected to sexual abuse, torture and forced labour, and witnessed children being beaten and abused.

Continue reading...

LNP leader launches Queensland election campaign with promise of mandatory isolation for child offenders who assault guards

Posted on by

David Crisafulli pledges minimum isolation periods for youths who attack staff despite evidence of dangers of solitary confinement

The Liberal National party leader, David Crisafulli, has promised to introduce “mandatory isolation periods” for children who assault workers in youth detention, as the Queensland opposition formally launched its state election campaign on Sunday.

Speaking to a crowd of LNP candidates and party faithful in Ipswich, Crisafulli focused much of his remarks on what he has dubbed the state’s “youth crime crisis”.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Alleged domestic violence perpetrators to wear ankle bracelets under NSW bail reforms

Posted on by

Corrective services will electronically monitor whereabouts of people released from custody while charged with serious offences

Alleged perpetrators charged with serious domestic violence offences in New South Wales will wear ankle bracelets and have their movements tracked around the clock if they are granted bail.

The NSW government announced the changes would take effect on Friday, and would involve corrective services electronically monitoring alleged perpetrators against geographic bail conditions using GPS technology.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

‘Urgent’ action needed after Melbourne woman’s near decade in solitary confinement in mental health facility, judge says

Posted on by

Woman remains in seclusion after being found not guilty of assault due to mental impairment in 2015

A Victorian judge says the state’s health and attorney general’s departments must act urgently in the case of a woman who has spent almost a decade in solitary confinement at a forensic mental health facility.

Guardian Australia revealed in July that the Melbourne woman is being held at Thomas Embling hospital, a secure forensic mental health facility, after being found not guilty because of mental impairment on assault charges in 2015.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Serco must be punished for ‘oppressive’ treatment of prisoners at Australia’s largest jail, legal experts say

Posted on by

Potential class action against private prison operator raised after 175 inmates at Clarence correctional centre locked in their cells for days after assault by a single prisoner

Private prison operator Serco should face sanctions for punishing nearly 200 inmates at Australia’s largest jail in an “unreasonable and oppressive” manner after a guard was assaulted by a single prisoner, legal experts say.

Lawyers are investigating a potential class action against Serco on behalf of affected inmates at Clarence correctional centre after the New South Wales ombudsman determined the company’s conduct was contrary to law.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Fears grow for women’s rights activists jailed in Iran after 87 executions in one month

Posted on by

Prisoners including Nobel prize winner Narges Mohammadi were reportedly beaten for protesting against a recent execution

There are fears for the fates of women’s rights activists imprisoned in Iran after a surge in executions since the election of Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, in July.

At least 87 people were reportedly executed in July, with another 29 executed on one day this month. The mass executions included Reza Rasaei, a young man sentenced to death for his participation in the Woman, Life, Freedom protests.

Human rights organisations fear further executions in the lead-up the second anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death in custody and the unprecedented nationwide protests that followed. Amini, who was 22, had been arrested for allegedly violating Iran’s strict dress code before she died in September 2022.

Continue reading...

NSW inquiry into death of Indigenous man shot while fleeing custody calls for urgent review of gun laws

Posted on by

Mother of Dwayne Johnstone urges government ministers to ‘take note’ of coroner’s recommendation ‘so no one else has to go through it’

The death of an unarmed Indigenous man who was shot while fleeing custody has prompted a coroner to recommend an urgent review of laws governing the use of firearms by correctional officers.

Dwayne Johnstone, a 43-year-old Wiradjuri man, was shot dead outside Lismore Base hospital as he ran in leg shackles and handcuffs from a prison van after receiving medical treatment on 15 March 2019.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

‘Betrayal’: Indigenous and legal groups condemn Victoria’s backflip on raising the age

Posted on by

Jacinta Allan says age of criminal responsibility won’t be raised to 14 amid concern about youth crime

Indigenous organisations, legal experts and human rights groups have condemned the Victorian government’s decision to abandon plans to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14, describing it as a “betrayal” of vulnerable children.

As revealed by Guardian Australia, the premier, Jacinta Allan, made the major policy reversal on Tuesday, as she announced several changes to the government’s 1,000-page youth justice bill.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Youth bail and anti-protest motion voted down at NSW Labor conference

Posted on by

Critics argued laws were ‘rushed through parliament’ and will result in more Aboriginal children becoming incarcerated

A motion to repeal controversial youth bail and anti-protest laws in New South Wales was defeated at the state Labor conference on Sunday.

The motion was the first opportunity for the youth bail laws, passed by the state government earlier this year, to be debated amongst rank and file party members. The laws make it harder for reoffending 14- to 18-year-olds who commit serious break-and-enter or motor vehicle theft offences to get bail.

Continue reading...

‘Harrowing’ footage sparks calls for Queensland government to remove children from police watch houses

Posted on by

Exclusive: Labor MP Jonty Bush among those speaking out about state’s youth justice policies after Guardian Australia investigation

Queensland’s most prominent victims’ rights groups say the state government must remove children from police watch houses after the release of confronting footage showing the “brutal” treatment of children in the adult holding cells.

The videos, published after a year-long investigation by Guardian Australia and SBS The Feed, showed young people locked in “freezing” isolation cells, becoming panicked and struggling to breathe.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...