Prisons

Reflections of an innocently convicted person: prison time changes personality irreversibly

Tuesday 21 March 2023 | Laszlo Arato
| EUrologus

As part of EDJNet’s investigation on the abuse of preventive detention in Europe , EUrologus made an insightful interview with a innocent convict who was wrongly sentenced.

Greek courts abuse pre-trial detention 

Friday 18 November 2022 | Nikos Morfonios
| MIIR

With large prisoner numbers and detention times far in excess of European averages, pre-trial detention is being abused by the Greek justice system.

face of a woman behind bars

One in five people in EU prisons are in pretrial detention 

Tuesday 10 May 2022 | Carmen Torrecillas
Eva Belmonte
David Cabo
María Álvarez Del Vayo
Miguel Ángel Gavilanes
Adrian Burtin
Kira Schacht
Laszlo Arato
María Zuil
Beatriz Walviesse
| Civio

People waiting for a final sentence often suffer worse conditions than convicted prisoners, even if they're innocent.

The suicide rate among people in pretrial custody is double that of convicted prisoners 

Tuesday 17 May 2022 | Ángela Bernardo
Eva Belmonte
Carmen Torrecillas
David Cabo
María Álvarez Del Vayo
Miguel Ángel Gavilanes
| Civio

In Europe there were 17.5 suicides per 10,000 people in pretrial detention in 2021, while the proportion was 8.54 deaths in the rest of the prison population.

Shadow of a person walking on a cobblestone pavement in Lisbon

Pre-trial detention: you never get over a dead son 

Monday 27 June 2022 | Beatriz Walviesse
| Divergente

Danijoy Pontes, 23 years old, was sent to pre-trial detention in 2020, for a total of 11 months. He died in a Lisbon prison: Divergente dug his story as part of EDJNet's investigation on the abuse and risks of pre-trial detention in Europe.

prison window

Presumed innocent but detained for months pretrial in Germany and EU 

Wednesday 15 June 2022 | Kira Schacht
| Deutsche Welle (DW)

One in five people jailed in the European Union hasn't been convicted of a crime — including 12,000 in Germany alone. Studies suggest that pretrial detention is unnecessary in most cases.

There was no barrier to Covid-19 transmission in Greek prisons 

Wednesday 18 May 2022 | Janine Louloudi
Nikos Morfonios
Thanasis Troboukis
| MIIR

The spread of coronavirus in Greek prisons was 1.4 times faster than in the general population during July-February 2022. The occupancy rate increased during the pandemic, and one in three prisoners is estimated to have contracted the coronavirus to date.

Hungarian prisons still take an austere approach 

Thursday 31 March 2022 | Laszlo Arato
| EUrologus

The Hungarian prison system has undergone a significant transformation in recent years: prison capacity has been expanded and institutions have been modernised. But imprisonment is only one form of punishment.

prison building

France: The pandemic has exposed a dysfunctional prison system 

Monday 13 December 2021 | Margot Hemmerich
| Alternatives Economiques

While the poor state of French prisons led many to fear a serious health crisis in the wake of Covid-19, the worst of those fears have not materialised. However, the drastic lockdown measures have done nothing to benefit the mental health of detainees. Nor have they led to any serious reevaluation of the system itself.

Covid-19 spread twice as fast in Greek prisons 

Tuesday 22 March 2022 | Nikos Morfonios
Janine Louloudi
| MIIR

Overcrowding, abuse of the minimum personal space of prisoners, hospitalization without segregation of patients, crowded quarantine, lack of medical staff and health measures, delayed vaccination - these are just some of the causes that lead to the virus’s spread.