These Are the 8 Most Feared Prisons Still Operating Today

Crime

Prisoner's hands gripping the bars of a cell in jail or prison serving sentence.

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Going to prison is never a good thing. But in some parts of the world, it might just be a fate worse than death. And just in case you think the most hellish prisons in the world are all overseas, the United States has the dubious distinction of making the list as well, more than once.

Besides deterring you from committing any felonies you might have been considering, this article can highlight a serious global human rights problem that will not get better without determined international citizen advocacy. And of course this is difficult to muster because many people believe no punishment is bad enough for some criminals. But the question is, are we diminishing our own humanity by lacking basic empathy for other human beings? See what you think after reading about conditions in the world’s most feared prisons. 

24/7 Wall St. Insights

  • The Universal Declaration of Human Rights guarantees all human beings dignity and basic rights, including freedom from inhumane treatment.  
  • The worst prisons in the world are demonstrably in violation of one or more of these international human rights standards. 
  • Also: Discover “The Next NVIDIA

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

United Nations headquarters in New York City, USA

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The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948. While it is not legally binding, it sets a customary global standard for human rights. Its provisions have become part of 9 different binding treaties related to human rights. All 193 UN members have ratified at least one of these treaties. Some articles of the Declaration relevant to crime and punishment include:

  • Article 1: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.”
  • Article 5: “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.”
  • Article 10: “Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal . . . “
  • Article 11: “Everyone charged with a penal offense has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty . . . “

Here, in alphabetical order, are prisons that have attracted international attention for violation of one or more of these standards. 

1. ADX Florence, Colorado, U.S.

In a Police Station Arrested Beaten Man Poses for Side View Mugshot. He Wears Singlet, is Heavily Bruised and Holds Placard. Height Chart in the Background. Shot with Dark Cold Lights, Vignette Filter

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This is a supermax facility that houses some of the country’s most dangerous criminals. Inmates have 23 hours a day of solitary confinement. This is considered by many critics a form of cruel and unusual punishment because of the severe mental effects of prolonged isolation on human beings. 

2. Bang Kwang Central Prison, Thailand

Hands of men desperate to catch the iron prison,prisoner concept,thailand people,Hope to be free,crime should be punished more severely

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This prison is notorious for the spread of infectious disease due to overcrowding and unsanitary conditions. Prisoners are sentenced to long terms with few opportunities for rehabilitation and parole. 

3. Black Dolphin Prison, Russia

View of russian flag behind barbed wire against cloudy sky. Concept anti-Russian sanctions. A border post on the border of Russia. cancel culture Russia in the world

Melnikov Dmitriy / Shutterstock.com

This is undoubtedly the worst prison in Russia. Inmates there are the worst of the worst: terrorists, cannibals, pedophiles, murderers, and rapists. The prison is understaffed, so prisoners spend most of their time locked in cells crowded with far more inmates than it was designed for. Gang violence and lawlessness runs rampant. 

4. Ciudad Barrios Prison, El Salvador

Stay at home or Quarantined man.Coronavirus covid-19 infected patient in coronavirus covid 19 quarantine home.Asian man quarantine 15 day lockdown at home.coronavirus outbreak control.Stop and control

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Ciudad Barrios Prison suffers from all the worst imaginable conditions of notorious prisons: overcrowding, disease, violence, gang turf wars, and abuse from corrupt staff. In recent years the country has cracked down harshly on gangs and the drug cartels, filling El Salvador’s prisons and resulting in even worse conditions for inmates. 

5. Gldani Prison, Georgia

A man getting under arrest in Georgia. Concept of being handcuffed, detained, incarcerated and jailed in said country. National law enforcement concept.

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One of the horrors of the Gldani Prison in the Caucasus country of Georgia is that guards who should help guarantee prisoners’ safety participate with criminal gang members in assaulting, raping, and torturing prisoners. The prison is overcrowded and lacking in medical care, so disease runs rampant. Riots and protests among prisoners underscore the desperate conditions there. 

6. Gitarama Central Prison, Rwanda

Social issues, abuse and violence on women. Depressed girl, sad african american young woman crying at home. Abused and scared wife

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This is one of the most overcrowded prisons in the world. Built for 400, it houses 7,000 prisoners. It is so crowded, prisoners don’t have a place to sit or lay down and often have to stand in one place for hours in stifling heat, surrounded on all sides by other criminals. Some inmates have died of suffocation. Others have had their feet amputated because of diseases contracted from the filthy floors. 

7. La Sabeneta Prison, Venezuela

Arrest, justice and thief in handcuffs for fraud, violence and burglary after a suspected house robbery. Law, hands and gangster criminal going to jail or prison for violence and crime in Venezuela

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This facility was built to accommodate 700 inmates but is packed with 3,700. The guard-to-prisoner ratio is 1:150. Gangs run life in the prison. Food and other necessities are inadequate for the number of inmates, leading to a darwinian survival-of-the-fittest situation. Violence between inmates, including murder, is is a daily fact of life there. 

8. Rikers Island, New York, U.S.

An Asian man with densely inked face tattoos, looking sideways in handcuffs, against a plain white background. A convicted felon under arrest. Judged and prejudiced by his looks.

MDV Edwards / Shutterstock.com

Rikers Island, with an inmate population of about 6,000, has a reputation as one of the deadliest prisons in the world. Violence, abuse, and neglect have led to multiple judgments against the city. SWAT units are deployed to search cells and confiscate weapons from inmates, but deaths are still a regular part of life there, leading some to say it is safer in the most dangerous neighborhoods of New York than in Rikers. 

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