Ecuador’s prisons blighted by state abandonment, says rights body
Quito, EducadorReuters Ecuador’s prison system, blighted by state abandonment and the absence of a comprehensive policy, has unprecedented high levels of violence and corruption and poor conditions for inmates, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights said on Thursday. A delegation from the IACHR visited Ecuador in December after violent clashes in prisons across the country […]
Pope on prisons: No inmate should ever be deprived of hope
Vatican City AP Pope Francis issued a plea on behalf of prison inmates Wednesday, saying they should never be deprived of hope and always be given the opportunity to redeem themselves. In remarks at his weekly public audience at the Vatican, Francis told the faithful that “we risk being imprisoned in a justice that doesn’t […]
Behind bars: Evangelicals a rising force inside Argentine prisons
GERMAN DE LOS SANTOS and RODRIGO ABD, of The Associated Press, report on the impact evangelicals are having behind prison walls…
A prison education: How US evangelical education institutions are creating pastors behind bars
YONAT SHIMRON, of Religion News Service, reports on a fledgling US movement among evangelical seminaries, colleges and universities to rehabilitate prisoners through education…
Bringing “light in the darkness”: How Australian prison ministries have continued delivering their message of hope during the pandemic
PETA MCCARTNEY reports on how prison ministries in Australia have continued their work despite the coronavirus pandemic…
Red Cross reveals that children held in north-east Syria prisons
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters Hundreds of children are incarcerated in adult prisons in north-eastern Syria, the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Wednesday, disclosing their plight as inmates for the first time. The children, mostly boys, have been removed to prisons from al-Hol, a desert camp run by Syrian Kurdish forces for 60,000 people from […]
Essay: US prisons hold more than 550,000 people with intellectual disabilities – they face exploitation, harsh treatment
In an article first published on The Conversation, JENNIFER SARRETT, of the Center for Study of Human Health at Emory University in the US, argues that it’s time cognitive, intellectual and developmental disability form part of the conversation on reforming the US prison system…
Catholic archdiocese sues US state of Wisconsin over prisoner visit restrictions
Madison, Wisconsin, USAP The Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee filed a lawsuit Friday demanding state corrections officials relax COVID-19 protocols and allow ministers to visit inmates. The archdiocese alleges in the filing that the Department of Corrections adopted a policy in March, 2020, banning volunteer visits. The policy has prevented clergy from the archdiocese from meeting […]
Essay: Christians should change how they talk about people with a criminal record
In an article first published on Religion News Service, JAMES ACKERMAN, president of Prison Fellowship in the US, writes about why words matter when describing people in reference to the prison system…
On his way to prison, US Catholic activist advocates for COVID-19 prisoner release
US RNS On Thursday, Patrick O’Neill will report to the Federal Correctional Institution near Elkton, Ohio, to serve a 14-month sentence for breaking into a nuclear submarine base as part of a symbolic nuclear disarmament action he took up with six other Catholic pacifists more than two years ago. But on his way to prison, O’Neill […]