• Territorial Correctional Facility, Canon City, Colorado, on the yard.
    © 2011 Jamie Fellner/Human Rights Watch
    US: Number of Aging Prisoners Soaring
    Aging men and women are the most rapidly growing group in US prisons, and prison officials are hard-pressed to provide them appropriate housing and medical care. Because of their higher rates of illness and impairments, older prisoners incur medical costs that are three to nine times as high as those for younger prisoners.
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  • Prison and Detention Conditions

    Prisoners and detainees in many local, state and federal facilities, including those run by private contractors, confront conditions that are abusive, degrading and dangerous. Soaring prison populations due to harsh sentencing laws—which legislators have been reluctant to change—and immigrant detention policies coupled with tight budgets have left governments unwilling to make the investments in staff and resources necessary to ensure safe and humane conditions of confinement. Such failures violate the human rights of all persons deprived of their liberty to be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person, and to be free from cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

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Prison and Detention Conditions

  • US: Number of Aging Prisoners Soaring
    Jan 26, 2012
    Aging men and women are the most rapidly growing group in US prisons, and prison officials are hard-pressed to provide them appropriate housing and medical care. Because of their higher rates of illness and impairments, older prisoners incur medical costs that are three to nine times as high as those for younger prisoners.
  • US: Harsh Conditions for Young Lifers
    Jan 2, 2012
    The approximately 2,570 youth offenders serving life without parole sentences in adult US prisons experience conditions that violate fundamental human rights. The United States is the only country in the world with youth offenders (below the age of 18 at the time of offense) serving life without parole sentences. The US Supreme Court will consider arguments about the constitutionality of the practice in March 2012.
  • US: An Attack on Human Dignity
    Oct 10, 2011
    The cornerstone of human rights is respect for the inherent dignity of all human beings and the inviolability of the human person, which is inconsistent with the death penalty. Capital punishment is unique in its cruelty and finality, and it is inevitably and universally plagued with arbitrariness, prejudice, and error.
  • California: Review Conditions at Pelican Bay
    Jul 22, 2011

    The hunger strike underscores the importance and urgency of a careful and comprehensive review of policies and practices at the Pelican Bay State Prison Security Housing Unit.

  • US: Protect Against Rape in Immigration Detention
    Jun 24, 2011
    The indictment of a prison guard in a sexual abuse case of a detained immigrant underscores the need for the US government to provide immigration detainees the same protections from rape that it plans for other prisoners.
  • US: Decent Decisions
    Jun 23, 2011
    Victories for prisoners seeking relief from abusive prison conditions are all too rare. US courts are often as loathe to condemn the mistreatment of inmates and wretched prisons as the public is willing to condone – if not encourage – them.
  • US: House Passes Drastic Detention Measures in Defense Bill
    May 26, 2011
    The US House of Representatives passed a defense spending bill on May 26, 2011, that includes counterproductive measures to force more military trials at Guantanamo and permanently expand the president’s power to militarily target and detain without trial people with no connection to 9/11.
  • US: Supreme Court Affirms Abused Prisoners’ Right to Remedy
    May 23, 2011
    The US Supreme Court on May 23, 2011, endorsed the constitutional right of prisoners to be free of cruel and unusual conditions of confinement and the government’s responsibility to provide a remedy for violations of that right.
  • US: Improve Weak Standards to End Prison Rape
    Apr 4, 2011
    Proposed Justice Department standards to reduce rape in prison are unduly weak and should be significantly improved to protect victims and ensure accountability. The Justice Department released its proposed standards under the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) on February 3, 2011, and established a sixty day comment period, ending April 4.
  • US: Comments Submitted to Department of Justice on Proposed Standards to End Prison Rape
    Apr 4, 2011
    The standards authorized by the Prison Rape Elimination Act must provide clear and effective national guidelines to keep adults and juveniles in confinement safe from sexual abuse. That prison rape has been as prevalent as it is reflects the failure of correctional agencies to take such abuse seriously and to adopt and enforce the policies necessary to end it.
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