One in three prisoners worldwide is being held without a trial, according to UNODC. (file)

Unsplash/Matthew Ansley

Prison population surge triggers overcrowding, COVID casualties

16 July 2021

One in three prisoners around the world is being held without having stood trial or been found guilty by any court, according to a new study published on Friday by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Audio - 13'42" Playlist

Women and children sit on mattresses on the floor at a detention centre in Tripoli, Libya.

Rise in women prisoners and COVID measures, ‘making sentences worse’

16 July 2020

Human Rights

More than 700,000 women are in prison around the world, and that number is growing much faster than men, the Human Rights Council has heard.

Audio - 6'4" Playlist

A detainee mother, with sleeping baby on her back, feeds her other child some bread inside the female room of a detention centre in Benghazi, Libya.

OCHA/Giles Clarke

Political prisoners should be among first released in pandemic response, says UN rights chief

3 April 2020

Human Rights

The decision by many Governments to release prisoners to slow the transmission of new coronavirus, was welcomed on Friday by the UN’s top rights official, Michelle Bachelet.

Audio - 5'22" Playlist