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Prison systems globally continue to report high levels of violence, with a myriad of drivers and impacts for people in prison and staff working in them. High levels of prison overcrowding, corruption, organised crime, a persistent culture of violence, and a lack of political will or financial resources to implement evidence-based solutions are common challenges.
Numerous reports have confirmed that people held in detention in conflict zones and fragile contexts – such as Syria and the Democratic Republic of Congo – have faced alarming levels of violence, sparking widespread condemnation. Reports of torture, ill-treatment, and sexual and gender-based violence within detention facilities underscore the devastating consequences of a total breakdown in the rule of law and the absence of security.
Organised criminal networks continue to operate, and in some cases are expanding their influence, from within prisons. Latin American prisons continue to be plagued by violence linked to organised crime. In early 2024, following the escape of prominent gang leaders, Ecuador’s President declared a state of emergency, granting military control over the country’s prisons, including the Litoral Penitentiary in Guayaquil. However, clashes between rival gangs erupted within the facility in November 2024, resulting in at least 15 deaths and 14 injuries. Subsequent security operations
uncovered caches of grenades and assault rifles, highlighting ongoing challenges in maintaining order within the prison system.
Similarly, in Colombia and Guatemala, authorities recently identified people in prison engaged in criminal activities as part of organised crime networks. Various high-profile individuals were transferred to different prisons, in an attempt to dismantle these networks and prevent violence. However, these efforts have been met with limited success, as prison overcrowding, insufficient security measures and entrenched gang influence continue in both countries. In Mexico and Venezuela, prison authorities’ efforts to address criminal activities within prisons, violent outbreaks have occurred as a response from people in prison.
In Europe, the impacts of organised crime on prison security are attracting more attention. For instance, in Serbia, it has been reported that younger people in prison are mentored by their older peers with organised crime links, and upon release subsequently join these groups. There have also been some high-profile cases, such as the fatal violent prison escape in May 2024 of a gang leader in France and an Italian operation discovering a network of encrypted telecommunications which showed that gang-affiliated leaders in Italian prisons were holding video conferences and supervising ambushes.
Elsewhere, such as in Jamaica, violent incidents related to organised crime in prisons have also been reported. A mass killing in August 2024 was committed by detainees involved in organised crime, triggering a previous discussion on constructing a high-security prison. In India and Venezuela, there are reports that people imprisoned are engaging in criminal activities within the prison, with access to weapons and contraband phones.
Over the past year, there have also been violent incidents related to militant groups in prisons. In Tajikistan, five supporters of the Islamic State were killed after they coordinated an attack on staff in an attempt to escape the prison.
In Russia, individuals with links to ISIS took prison staff hostage in a detention centre before being killed by special forces, and a few months later, four ISIS-affiliated people in prison carried out a similar attack, resulting in the deaths of both the attackers and several staff members. In Somalia, armed people in prison from al-Shabab, a group linked to al-Qaeda, attempted to escape from prison, leaving three soldiers and five people in prison dead. In India, one prisoner allegedly supporting the Islamic State tried to escape from jail, assaulting staff in the process.
The impacts of prison overcrowding and staff shortages are evidenced in data released on violence against prison staff. In France, Romania, Belgium and Quebec, Canada, violent incidents have prompted staff to call for government action. In England and Wales, more than 10,000 violent incidents were recorded between June 2023 and June 2024, the highest in 21 years – with many cases not being investigated.
There have been cases of prison staff being subjected to violence at home, such as in Belgium when a Molotov cocktail was thrown into a staff member’s house who had also been previously threatened. In April 2025, a series of coordinated attacks targeted multiple French prisons, involving acts of intimidation against staff such as vehicle arson and, in at least one case, the use of automatic firearms.
The mistreatment of women in prisons remains a pressing issue across all regions, with sexual and gender-based violence being a persistent concern, particularly in fragile and conflict-affected areas. New reports point to systemic abuse, including sexual violence, arbitrary punitive measures and unchecked violence by prison staff. (See Spotlight on women)
Accountability for any form of violence in prisons remains patchy, even in cases of torture or death, raising human rights and prison management issues. For instance, in Hungary, the Council of Europe’s detention monitoring body reported in 2024 that there were credible allegations of physical ill-treatment by staff in facilities lacking CCTV cameras. It was also noted that some people in prison refrained from reporting incidents of violence, either because doing so could exacerbate the situation or because they believed it would be ineffective. In Rwanda, however, there was a successful prosecution of a former director of prisons who was convicted in April 2024 for the assault and murder of a detainee at Rubavu prison in 2019, alongside two prison officers and seven people in prison who were convicted for their involvement in deaths of detainees at the same facility.
