Top 10 Deadliest Prisons in the World
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Of course, nobody wants to go to prison, but there are some prisons that you really, really don’t want to be imprisoned as an inmate. Being in jail is only part of the problem, staying alive is the bigger issue. Here are the top 10 most dangerous prisons in the world.
10. San Quentin Prison
San Quentin, California – In the 1930’s, San Quentin was rife with corruption by management, until a new director, Clinton Truman Duffy, appalled at the inhumane conditions at the prison, decided to implement reforms in the 1940’s. Prior to his appointment, prisoners made counterfeit currency in the prison shops, had their heads shaved and were forced to wear numbered uniforms, while eating out of pails and enduring solitary confinement in poured-concrete cells that had little air and no light. Even a petty offense to prison regulations would land an inmate in solitary, and race riots would put inmate lives at risk on a regular basis. San Quentin is still a harsh environment, filled with California’s most violent offenders, and the high ratio of guards to general population, just barely keeps the prison system from spiraling out of control.
9. Bang Kwang Prison
Thailand – Known as the “Bangkok Hilton”, Bang Kwang is understaffed, overcrowded, and filled with inmates who struggle with insanity as they spend the first months of their sentences chained in leg irons. The Thai culture doesn’t believe in coddling prisoners, and, in the words of Director of Prison Khun Nattee, “Thai prisons are tough…you don’t want to be in Bang Kwang.” Poor medical care is standard at this prison, with sick inmates shackled to their beds as they wait for medicines they probably will never get. If you find yourself on Death Row at Bangkwang, you will have leg irons welded on until your execution, and you will be given only two hours notice before dying by lethal injection.
8. Rikers Island Prison
Rikers Island, New York – Stabbings, beatings and brutal treatment from prison guards characterize this American prison. Filled primarily with offenders who are visible minorities, jailed on drug offenses, the prison is a hotbed of violence and aggression. In 2007, prisoner Charles Afflic was beaten senseless with a billy club by a prison official, who hit him repeatedly from behind: his injuries were so severe they necessitated brain surgery. 6 inmates committed suicide, hanging themselves with bedsheets in their cells, during the first six months of 2003 alone. Rikers has a reputation for its cruel treatment of mentally ill prisoners, who often turn to suicide in lieu of treatment and understanding.
7. ADX Florence Supermax Facility
Colorado – This prison was built in response to the violent attacks on guards and prison staff at other US prisons – it was meant to be the ultimate deterrent, a place where inmates were completely isolated from prison staff, and left to live in slow psychological torture as they spent 23 hours a day in barren cells. Inmates at ADX are the worst of the worst, often repeat offenders who have killed or injured other inmates, or even prison guards, during their time in other institutions. Describes by inmates as a nightmare vision of punishment, “meant to inflict misery and pain”, this “clean version of hell” is also a violent place, despite all the steps taken to segregate and isolate the general population. In its 13 years of operation, two prisoners have been killed at ADX Florence. Another prisoner, named Lawrence Klaker, was shot and injured as he entered the Supermax prison for the first time: he later killed himself within prison walls.
6. Alcatraz Island Prison
San Francisco, CA – This prison, known as “The Rock”, or “Devil’s Island” was built to house the criminals of the 1920’s, who broke laws during the times of Prohibition leading into the Great Depression. Another study in stark, soul-destroying discomfort and isolation, Alcatraz was known for its unique design, which made escape almost unthinkable. Inmates had no contact with the world outside the prison gates, and suffered harsh discipline from prison officials, as well as an inhumane policy of “silence” that forced prisoners to forgo speech for long periods of time. As can be expected, this was no boon to mental health, and many inmates went insane as they were forced to endure the stringent conditions of the prison without any conversation or other release of their emotions. The prison was shut down in 1963, but its grim legacy lives on, in film and legend.
5. La Sante Prison
Paris, France – According to whistle-blower and former prison official Veronique Vasseur, this prison was a hellhole, where prisoners were forced to live out their sentences in concrete cells full of rats and lice. Inmates were prone to lose their sanity as they dealt with the harsh daily realities of life at La Sante – which translates, ironically, to “health” in the English language. The well being of inmates was very low on the list of priorities for the French administrators of this torture chamber on a grand scale: weaker inmates were routinely enslaved by stronger ones, and rapes were a daily event at the prison. Suicide was rampant at la Sante, with a staggering 122 self-inflicted deaths of prisoners in 2002, and 73 more by mid 2003. The tendency to suicide could be linked to the terrible living conditions that plunged inmates into clinical depression: overcrowding, understaffing, and prison violence led these people to swallow drain cleaner in order to end their suffering once and for all.
4. Diyarbak?r Prison
Turkey – This prison has been cited for its human right violations, which are thought to cross the line into true atrocity. From 1981 to 1984, 34 prisoners lost their lives due to the excessive instances of torture, both mental and physical, practiced at Diyarbakir. This prison is notorious for the sexual abuse of its inmates, and its unlivable conditions. Prisoners have attempted hunger strikes, set themselves on fire in protest of prison conditions, and committed suicide in order to escape the horrors of this Turkish facility. Diyarbakir is known to incarcerate mere children for sentences of life imprisonment, and its “crimes against humanity” make it one of the word’s most sadistic and forbidding penal institutions.
3. La Sabaneta Prison
Venezuela – Venezuela is known for its brutal prisons, where violence is a daily occurrence, and inmates are at the mercy of disease outbreaks, underpaid staff, little medical services, and insufficient food and care. La Sabaneta is the worst of the worst, a place where cholera outbreaks have wiped out 700 inmates, amidst “appalling violence” and riots that triggered a horrific massacre of 100 inmates back in 1994. Death is rampant at La Sabaneta, and the hair-trigger tempers of inmates and staff are thought to be linked to idleness and boredom, as no activities are permitted to release tension: left to their own devices, prisoners fight amongst themselves, fashion shivs and other deadly weapons, and kill one another in this truly archaic penal facility.
2. Tadmor Prison
Syria – The death count may not rank Tadmor Prison as number one on this list, but no other prison sent such shivers down my spine as I did my research. The violence at Tadmor is so gruesome and utterly merciless, I felt sick reading about it. Described as a “kingdom of death and madness” by a former detainee, Tadmor features bloodthirsty guards who butcher inmates with axes, and political prisoners (read: non violent protestors) who are starved to concentration camp emaciation by prison administrators. In 1980, after an assassination attempt on the President (in Damascus), inmates were made to pay the ultimate price as commandos landed at Tadmor in helicopters, and butchered as many as 500 prisoners in their cells: this “warning: sent a clear message to Syrians about staying in line. When guards are not busy tying up inmates and dragging them to death, they can be found chopping up body parts in one of the prison’s several courtyards.
1. Carandiru Prison
Brazil – The body count was sky-high at this notorious Brazilian prison, where riots in 1992 triggered a massacre of the general population by local police: inmates, who had already given in and surrendered to police, were shot as they cowered in terror in their tiny cells. Deaths at this facility are thought to be as many as 1300 over its 46 year history: the reign of terror by prison officials was stopped in 2002 when the prison was closed, amidst campaigns from Amnesty International, and reports of gross human rights violations that could not be quieted by Brazilian officials. The violence wasn’t the only thing threatening the unfortunate residents of this dark place: an AIDS epidemic at the facility spread rapidly, with as many as one in five of the inmates suffering from the disease.
By Heather Matthews
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What’s the matter? Weak knees? Jeez, use your head when you research stuff like this, not your heart. If ALL prisons were as rough as these, there wouldn’t be very many “repeat offenders” would there? Prisoners definitely wouldn’t want to go back, if they survived the experience. The reason criminals repeat offenses in the ‘civilized’ world is due to the “country club” version of prisons. Prison should be a rough place, somewhere to avoid. So get off your “human rights” stance when speaking of criminals, they DO NOT have any rights, they gave them up when they committed their crime(s).
Do you people realize that when people are treated this badly they wind up going into the civilian world when they get released and take it out on innocent people? What good does it do us on the outside if people who go to prison without HIV come out with it? That just makes it more likely to spread outside of the walls. This stuff effects people on the outside, most prison terms are less than 10 years so they WILL get out and when they do it puts all of us at risk for contracting diseases and/or being the victim of their repressed aggression.
I’m not saying make prison a cakewalk, but for god’s sake being okay with people leaving prison walls with HIV or Hepatitus is just borderline retarded. And don’t give me that, “well I wouldn’t have sex with a criminal”, well it only takes one person to start a chain reaction with STD’s.
by the way great article, I really enjoyed it
thanks for your comments, mankind716…I enjoyed reading your views.
I have to disagree: when we lose our humanity and treat prisoners in an inhumane fashion, we all lower ourselves: we become what we despise. Human rights violations matter a lot: political prisoners don’t deserve to be killed or tortured. There are a lot of reasons why I stand behind my story, which is just a top ten list after all
I don’t write just from the heart, either, and I’m not the only one who believes these prisons are inhumane. Thanks for the feedback.
hmmmm, well, I think this may be an insight as to why the USA is most popular for ”illegals”. Our prison system is a cake walk compared to the rest of the world.
Another note…..wah wah wah for those who commit crime. I’ve no sympathy for you. I think about the victims, not the perpetraitors.
Oh yeah….common sense is right. Look at Mariposa, AZ and Sheriff Joe.
Many of the prisons in the US are worse than prisons abroad. While conditions are cleaner and more hygenic rape and violence are rampant.
This makes a US supermax prison worse than most prisons in the developing world (with of course exceptions Latin America, THailand, Iran).
Do you really believe that every prisoner in Tadmor got a fair trial before being locked away? If you do, you’re assuming all countries employ the same system of fairness and democracy that we enjoy in North America. I don’t think it’s logical to assume that every prisoner in one of these hellholes is just getting what they deserve.
Murderers, rapists, child molestors, wife beaters, child beaters, gangsters (who reak havok and have no concideration for society) and stalkers ( who make life a living hell for an individual), oh yes, and the tiny few animal abusers and killers who actually to prison. ALL of them should be in any of the above mentioned prisons. They should be cold, sick, hungry, enslaved, beaten, raped, and generally tortured on a daily basis. There should be prisons like those in this country, and not the bull s**t we have now. This has NOT made me lose my humanity, as you think (and you can go ahead and think that, I think people who think like you are total pussies). It’s just that I am a (very close) relative of a few rape, molestation, wife beater (and stalker) and murder victims and unless you see THEIR torture up close, you can NEVER understand.
I THINK WE COULD SAVE THE TAX PAYERS TONS OF MONEY BY CLOSING ALL THESE PRISONS WITH THE LIFE SENTENCES AND DEATH ROW INMATES AND DUMP THEM ON AN ISLAND MILES AWAY FROM ANY MAIN LAND AND LET THEM MAKE IT WITH WHAT EVER THEY CAN FIND,
IF THEY DIE OH WELL.
tHEN WE COULD JUST PATROL AND SET UP AN BODY HEAT SENSOR SYSTEM TO CATCH ESCAPEES.
Bianca, I can see why you feel the way the way that you do. I’m sorry your relatives suffered that way. All I am saying is that a fair trial should be the basis for imprisonment, and other countries do not have the same system we do. Political prisoners in Tadmor have not necessarily had a fair trial and due process.
hey murderers should be in a prison that is really really tough so they would regret the things they’ve done wrong, perhaps they shouldnt be in prison they should be killed too
@Common sense
Week knees? I don’t know about Heather Matthews’ knees, but I do feel that your comment is the typical KNEE-JERK reaction to the critical human rights perspective expressed in this entry. Your contention that the best way to integrate prisoners to society is to deprive them of their human rights is precisely the opposite of what someone more familiar with the social causes of crime would advocate. You also completely ignore the social reality of many of the inmates prior to their incarceration, which in many cases is such that it almost coerces the individual to the path of crime. Wouldn’t it be better to remove the poverty and social inequality that motivate criminal behaviour instead of further victimising people already let down by their society?
(Weak)
Thank you Kalevi. I was suprised that people posting here were so opposed to the idea of human rights for prisoners, especially in third world countries with different rules about arresting and convicting criminals. I found it shocking.
It is an irony that we have to deal or face such situations in life.
If one looks back at these people as children who can imagine that one day they would end up like this.The grim fact is that once they become adults they turn out to be different as they move along in life.
Therefore it is really important to understand before giving a judgement.Yes it is important to be humane under all circumstances.The best thing to do is to give out justice right there and then to avoid prolonged contemplating as to what needs to be done,because the more we delay the more unfocussed one becomes and moves away from the main theme.
after reading some of the comments I came to one conclution, Not all these people are bad, some are messed up in the dead, I do not beliee that the prison guards are doing all they can to protect these offenders. Not to say that some of them don’t have in coming cause some do, like the baby rappers and wrongful killers, but how many of these people were committing these crimes because it is how they were raised or because they honestly and truthfully have had a wrong done to them by the person they did it too? how many of these people can’t say “ask him” because they reacted before they thought and now the only person who could say “F U and I would do it again” is dead. I believe that when a man or woman is in a position where they believe they have to defend something such are their family or their “turf” they would do anything….even kill, but,I am not saying it is right I am just saying that maybe that is how it has always been for them and they may not have thought that at that point in time that they had any other option, What about the first time offenders who murdered a man for robbing them or laying their hands on a friend or came into their domain and disrespected their family, What if it was something they realized was a mistake and there is no way in HELL they would do it again…send them to a doctor…send them to a shrink.. make them appoligize to the family, in person. But that is not how our country works, we would rather send them away for life and ruin their families lives and their lives(not to say that they didn’t ruin someone elses life)but maybe it was a moment they were having and all they saw was red, maybe they are sick, maye they were hurt inside at the time….figure out the facts before over populating our prisons and spending moree money then what our country can offord.. you never know, some of those people who say they would never do it again are actually telling the truth, maybe some of them are telling the truth when they say they didn’t do it or do it alone, or maybe it was truly an accident.
well, it’s been proven that many abused people grow up to abuse. but if someone hurt my child, I wouldn’t care about their excuses or past history. It’s a very complex problem. I believe some of these prisons are disgusting, but that’s just my opinion. It was interesting to read your views.
Hi,
I’d very much like to know where did you get your info about La Santé prison (the french one) ?
You claim that male rape and enslavement occur on a daily basis in french prisons. Ironically, rape in european prisons is a rare phenomenon, unlike in the US of A, where it’s pratically part of daily-life of a prisoner.
I agree with the island idea in the US but only after their 2nd or 3rd offense. We all make mistakes and yes sometimes even the innocent are convicted. But if you don’t learn from your mistakes or your a repeat offender you don’t deserve society’s time and financial support.
These prisons are so horrifying and i wonder what about those who really serves a time there. If they are hardened criminals then it’s okay but for the innocent people who might have falsely alleged by the society or government its a nightmare.
I strongly believe that keeping criminals away from the society is a good move but do not forget that you are keeping other humans away so they also should get all kinds of facilities and medical attentions.
HI frenchman,
There was an expose in the New York Times about La Sante prison, you can find it online.
Thanks for your comment.
Hmmm… very interesting list indeed. Only i believe that number 1 and number 2 should be switched. Number two seems much more terrifying and deadly.
Hi Joel,
I have to admit, I actually had a nightmare about Tadmor after reading about the prison. It seems too horrible to be real – but it is. However, in terms of body count, Carandiru is widely considered to be the worst prison around.
Thanks so much for commenting on my list, have a great day
Katie,
I agree with you 100 percent. Thanks for commenting on the list
Murderers, rapists, child molesters,violent thugs, terrorists and traitors should all be executed. A just punishment and a heathy deterrent.
But what about those who are wrongly convicted of crimes? This has happened in the past…
These are the polar opposites of our New Zealand prisons, which are more like 4-Star motels, complete with Sky TV and weekly menus, for our rapists and violent gang members. Its as though our govt is afraid of inconveniencing our criminals, or something terrible like that.
I reckon the lot of them should be sent to one of these places for a month. And if that still doesn’t scare some good behaviour into them, we can hang them. Job done. And no, you are right, I don’t have any sympathy for criminals.