Rare And Unedited Photos Show What Prisons Look Like Around The World – Some Are Disturbing
Prisons are places where people are housed when they are convicted of a crime. A typical cell will include bars, very few windows, barbed wire, and a whole lot of cement. At least, that's what stereotypical prisons look like. Around the world, prisons come in all different shapes and sizes, and have different levels of rehabilitation services.
Where Kresty in Russia is known for its extreme overcrowding and lack of rehab, there is a tiny prison located on the island of Sark that is only large enough for two inmates and is used as a holding cell! Keep reading to learn more about the fascinating prisons found around the world.
Cebu Provincial Detention And Rehabilitation Center, Cebu Province, Philippines
Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center in Cebu Province, Philippines, is a maximum-security prison that is famous for its rehabilitation program. While other facilities use rehab programs to get their inmates prepared for life outside of prison, CPDRC uses exercise, specifically dance.
Some believe this form of rehabilitation is not proper, and the prison has been criticized for enforcing the exercises. There are even former prisoners who have stated that those who refused to join in the dancing would be punished. These claims were never proven, though.
ADX Florence, Colorado, United States
Informally known as the "Alcatraz of the Rockies," ADX Florence provides a higher level of security than a maximum-level security facility. Located in Colorado, prisoners here are detained in their cells for 23 hours out of the day and have limited "broadcast entertainment." The hope is to encourage peaceful living and deter career prisoners from a life of crime once they are released.
The supermax prison only houses male prisoners who require 24-hour surveillance and are considered to be highly dangerous. This includes people who pose a threat to national security. ADX Florence is considered to be the most secure prison in the world.
Pelican Bay State Prison, Crescent City, California, United States
Pelican Bay State Prison is the only super-maximum security prison in the state of California. The facility is known for its long-term Security Housing Units (SHU) and inmate protesting due to the harsh conditions of the cells.
Each SHU is an eight by ten-foot windowless room of solid concrete. If a person is sentenced to a SHU, they are confined to their cell for 23 hours a day, only allowed out for exercise. Not that exercise is a luxury. The recreation area is a concrete room that spans about three cells and has a roof that's partially open to the sky.
Bastøy Prison In Horten, Norway
Bastøy Prison in Horten, Norway, is a low-security facility that can house up to 115 prisoners. Here, inmates live a fairly comfortable life. If sentenced to Bastøy, inmates find themselves living in cozy cottages, dining on food sourced from the land, and enjoying various amenities such as a sauna, tennis courts, and even horseback riding.
The prison was founded in 1982, and since then, there has only been one attempted escape. Prisoners know they have it easy compared to other prisons around the world. Any attempted escape would result in relocation to harsher and stricter prisons, making inmates sure to follow the rules.
San Pedro Prison, La Paz, Bolivia
San Pedro Prison in La Paz, Bolivia, is more than a prison; it is a pseudo society run by the inmates. The facility is unconventional, allowing women and children to live within the prison with their convicted husbands, and even having inmates buy or rent their cells for the duration of their stay. Some of these cells are quite luxurious, with a private bathroom, kitchen, cable, and sometimes even a jacuzzi.
The prisoners have also established laws and rules within the community, going as far as electing leaders and a financial secretary. The latter is needed because of the income inmates accumulate, specifically trafficking narcotics outside of San Pedro.
Rikers Island Prison, New York, United States
Rikers Island is a notoriously violent prison located in New York. The neglect and abuse of inmates, along with the thousands of annual assaults, has given the facility a lot of media attention in the past years. In 2013, Mother Jones magazine ranked the correctional facility as one of the ten worst in the country.
Because of all the violence, Rikers is considered to be one of the strictest prisons in the world. In 2017, Mayor Bill de Blasio began to make plans to shut down the island prison altogether. It was announced in 2019 that the New York City Council voted to shut down the entire complex by 2026.
Landsberg Prison, Landsberg Am Lech, Germany
Built in 1910, Landsberg Prison is located in Landsberg Am Lech, Germany, and is best known as the penitentiary where Adolf Hitler wrote his infamous book and other war criminals were held. During World War II, the United States named the prison "War Criminal Prison No. 1."
The establishment is no longer used for war criminals, and the rehabilitation services offered have since been updated. The prison is now known as a progressive correctional facility. Thirty-six different vocational training classes are offered to the inmates, such as baking, electrical work, carpentry, and even bricklaying.
San Quentin State Prison, San Quentin, California
San Quentin State Prison opened in 1852 and is California's oldest correctional facility. The prison is also the only penitentiary in California to have a death row for male inmates. San Quentin is a notorious prison due to the high-profile criminals who are sentenced there, mostly serial killers such as Wayne Adam Ford and Joseph Naso.
Aside from it having one of the largest death rows in the country, prisoners at San Quentin have some unique programs at their disposal. One such rehabilitation program is The San Quentin News, an inmate-produced newspaper. This type of paper is one of the few in the world and the only one in California.
Evin Prison, Tehran, Iran
Evin Prison is located in Tehran, Iran, and is known for housing political prisoners. Because of the high number of intellectual inmates, the prison even had one of its wings dubbed Evin University. But don't let the name fool you, this is no school. Evin is known as one of the world's most brutal prisons.
Evin is extremely overcrowded, and there is no air conditioning. In a country where it can get scorching hot, sometimes reaching over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, those two things do not mix. Prisoners are also completely cut off from the outside world, not being allowed phone calls or visits from family.
The Federal Correctional Institution, El Reno, Oklahoma
The Federal Correctional Institution in El Reno, Oklahoma, is a medium-security prison that houses only male inmates. When the prison first opened in 1933, it was a correctional institution for young adults, meaning the inmates there were between the ages of 18 and 26.
It wasn't until the '70s that the facility began taking in male prisoners of varying ages. The 'nice' thing about this prison is that is has a metal factory and two dairy farms. Both places tend to employ inmates once they are released.
Desembargador Raimundo Vidal Pessoa Penitentiary, Manaus, Brazil
Desembargador Raimundo Vidal Pessoa penitentiary in the jungle city of Manaus, Brazil, is highly dangerous and violent. The overcrowded facility is known for its fatal prison riots and gang-related turf wars. It doesn't help that the prison population in the country has quintupled since 1990, the third-largest population in the world, according to the National Justice Council.
Gang-related violence isn't the only thing that makes Brazillian prisons some of the most violent in the world. The inhumane living conditions, which see multiple people inside tiny cells, are enough for anyone to go insane.
Kresty Prison, St. Petersburg, Russia
Kresty prison is located in St. Petersburg, Russia, and is every bit the stereotypical correctional facility. Originally, the cross-shaped buildings were designed to house no more than 1,150 inmates. However, in the 1990s, there were 12,500 prisoners estimated to be on the inside.
Cells that were meant to be used for solitary confinement were said to be packed with up to 20 people. Thankfully, the prison was shut down with plans to turn the buildings into a hotel and entertainment complex. A new detention center was built, aptly named Kresty 2.
Sark Prison, Guernsey, Island of Sark
Sark prison is the world's smallest prison. Located on a tiny island between England and France, this "correctional facility" is actually still in use. The local police tend to bring seasonal workers here to sober up after a night out in the tiny town of 500 people.
The small jail is only big enough to allow for two offenders at a time, so it's safe to say the townspeople aren't concerned about overcrowding! Built in 1856, Sark is made of bricks, has no windows, and the ventilation is not up to par (meaning there is none).
