About

World Prisons exists because basic facts about prisons — how big they are, who runs them, how to write to someone inside — are scattered across hundreds of websites and harder to find than they should be. We pull them into one place.

Who it's for

• Families looking up visiting times or mailing addresses.
• Researchers comparing systems internationally.
• Journalists checking population and overcrowding figures.
• Advocates documenting conditions across multiple jurisdictions.

What's next

• Expand from 10 to 100+ countries.
• Add facility-by-facility data for the 20+ largest systems.
• AI-powered semantic search across conditions reports.
• Comparison tools for systems and individual facilities.
• A submission system for verified corrections from staff, families, and advocates.

Not affiliated with any government, prison administration, or advocacy group.