prison

Prison safari

Sophie Team Observers — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 17:26:38 +0100

Image: "emmablackburn" on Flickr.

A notorious prison in Bolivia has been condemned by the government for allowing tourists to visit the premises, take photos and videos, and talk to the inmates. If you never made it inside the cárcel de San Pedro, it's too late now - the prison governor was sacked last week because of the illegal tours. See the images from those who got there before the doors were slammed shut...

Shocking video: life inside a French jail

Ségolène Team Observers — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 17:23:41 +0100

Prisoners from a French jail have managed to film under the watch of the guards using hidden cameras smuggled into the jail. A shocking look into the world of the French prison service.

Over an hour of footage was shot with the aid of a hidden camera smuggled into the prison. The inmates then managed to get the equipment out of the prison and into the hands of two young film producers, Omar Dawson and Karim Bellazaar, who together edited the video that we see here. A shocking inside view of the daily lives of prisoners in France: the images reveal moss-covered shower walls, less-than-basic toiletries and crammed cells. They also show us a few examples of the inventiveness of the residents. For example, the 'Yo-Yo' system, which allows inmates to pass objects from window to window using bed sheets.

Five gang members beheaded in brutal prison fight

Sophie Team Observers — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 14:34:35 +0100

Five severed heads lie on the ground outside a Guatemalan prison. The victims: decapitated by fellow inmates after two rival gangs were placed in the same prison.

The fight broke out after alleged members of bitter rival gangs Maras Salvatrucha and Maras Diez y Ocho were placed in Pavoncito prison in Guatemala City on Friday night. It took the police several hours to regain control of the prison, in which time five people had been decapitated, one with their head impaled on a stick, and two fatally shot. Gang and prison brutality is nothing new to Guatemala; a country plagued with a violent background following decades of bloody civil war which didn't come to an end until less than a decade ago. As our Observer tells us, under the current circumstances, the situation looks unlikely to improve.

The decapitated bodies lie on the ground. One of the prisoners shouts "It's a message!" to eyewitnesses who surround the compound. We weren't able to get hold of the person who filmed the footage. The video was posted on news.walla.

30,000 immigrants waiting for deportation in the US

Sophie Team Observers — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 14:23:49 +0200

The number of immigrants locked up in US jails has exploded in the past 15 years, after a law that allows "double punishment" was introduced. Today, 30,000 detainees are awaiting deportation.

The number of detained immigrants in the US has gone from 5,000 in 1994 to more than 30,000 in 2008 according to a study by OneAmerica, a non-profit organisation in collaboration with the Seattle University School of Law. The explosion in numbers is due to a change in the law passed in 1996, which classed almost any crime taken out by an immigrant as an "aggravated crime". Whether you're robbing a bank or just smoking a spliff, you're on the list.

When an immigrant's found guilty of an "aggravated crime", they will have already completed the length of their sentence by the time they reach the detention centre, to then wait for extradition. The law doesn't only affect those who've committed crimes after 1996. It's retroactive and so takes in crimes committed beforehand. Therefore, immigrants with a criminal record who leave the country risk being sent to a detention centre on their return and then extradited. While some Americans find the rule "unfair and insane", others consider it normal that immigrants are subjected to stricter rules than US citizens.

Moroccans gang together for the release of the "Facebook prisoner"

Julien — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 14:12:36 +0100

Fouad Mourtada got three years in a maximum security prison for creating a fake Facebook profile page for a member of the Moroccan royal family. Now, web-users all over the world are ganging together to get Fouad out of prison.

The 26-year-old Moroccan IT engineer created a profile in the name of Prince Moulay Rachid (the brother of Mohamed VI, king of Morocco). The offence led to his sudden street arrest on Feb 5. After weeks in custody, where his family says he was tortured, he went to trial in Casablanca. He explained that he created the fake profile in admiration for the prince, and with no malicious intentions. However, the court wanted to "make an example" of Mourtada, and they condemned him, at the end of February, to three years in a maximum security prison for the "usurpation of identity".

Since Mourtada was put behind bars outrage among the Moroccan public and on the international blogosphere has only escalated. Young people in particular cannot understand why a harmless joke led to such a severe sentence. Last Saturday demonstrators in Morocco and across Europe marched to demand the release of the Facebook prisoner.

What better than to spy on the guards that spy on you

Julien — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 15:01:14 +0100

Hu Jia films his jailers passing the time with a game of cards

Last month we publicised the case of blogger Hu Jia, arrested at his home on 27 December for openly criticising the organisation of the Olympic Games. Here we publish an extract from the documentary ‘Prisoners in Freedom City', that he and his wife Jeng filmed in the year before his arrest. This is the direct testimony of a Chinese dissident under 24h supervision by secret police.

It's time for a jailhouse rock

Julien — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 17:16:59 +0100

An amateur dance routine to the Michael Jackson song Thriller, staged by 1,500 Filipino prison inmates, has been viewed over 11 million times on YouTube. Part of a rehabilitation programme, the prisoners had been practicing several routines in the hope of participating in the colourful ‘Sinulog' festival that takes place on the island of Cebu each January. As well as the worldwide Jackson hit, they also drilled routines to the Village People's YMCA and Queen classic Radio Ga Ga. Sadly they weren't admitted to the Sinulog procession line-up, though a hundred of them were able to perform before a 230-strong audience on 18 January.

Hatched by security consultant Byron Garcia, the project was taken up by eight other Filipino prisons. Here; the videos of the routines, the live show with an audience, and the actual Sinulog Festival.