16 injured as inmates set Kentucky prison on fire

September 18th, 2009 Red Cross: Guantanamo inmates make video callsGENEVA — The international Red Cross says it has set up video links allowing Guantanamo Bay inmates to talk to their families and friends face-to-face. The International Committee of the Red Cross says more than 60 detainees registered to make calls when the initiative started Thursday.

September 11th, 2009 BAGHDAD - One prisoner was killed and 40 others injured in riots in the western Baghdad prison formerly known as Abu Ghraib, media reports said Friday. Prisoners set fire to Baghdad Central Prison during riots that started late Thursday, the Aswat al-Iraq news agency reported, adding that the violence was triggered by a search for mobile phones.

September 1st, 2009 LONDON - "American Fritzl" Philip Garrido and his wife Nancy, the alleged abductors of Jaycee Lee Dugard, are said to have been placed on a suicide watch in prison. The couple have been kept in solitary confinement for their own protection, amid fears that other inmates could try to attack them, reports the Telegraph.

August 19th, 2009 CARACAS - At least eight people have been killed and five injured in a brawl among inmates at an overpopulated prison in the southern Venezuelan state of Bolivar, a prison watchdog group has said. The incident occurred at the Vista Hermosa prison early Tuesday morning when a gunbattle broke out among the prisoners, Humberto Prado, the head of the Venezuelan Prison Observatory, told Union Radio.

August 16th, 2009 MEXICO CITY - At least 19 inmates of a prison have been killed in a clash in the northwestern Mexican state of Durango, officials have said. More than 26 were also injured in the brawl that broke out Friday night between rival groups in the jail in the city of Gomez Palacio, Jorge Torres, Durango's public safety secretary, told the press Saturday.

August 16th, 2009 KUWAIT CITY - At least 41 women and children were killed and dozens more injured in a fire that broke out Saturday night in a tent at a wedding in Kuwait, local media reports said. Many more were believed to have been killed in a stampede that followed the fire at the wedding in the Ayoun area of Jahra, west of Kuwait City, the Kuwait Times reported.

August 15th, 2009 MEXICO CITY - At least 19 prisoners were killed and another 20 wounded during a four-hour prison riot in the northern Mexican state of Durango, officials said Saturday. The fighting started Friday after security was increased at the prison in Gomez Palacio town following the transfer of prisoners from a high-security facility, the state's director for security, Jorge Torres, said.

August 10th, 2009 Los Angeles (US): A 11-hour riot, at the Reception Center West at the California Institution for Men in Chino, about 40 miles east of Los Angeles, on Saturday night and Sunday morning, has left 250 prisoners injured and 55 being admitted to hospital. Black prison gangs fought Latino gangs in hand-to-hand combat; the New York Times quoted the prison authorities, as saying.

July 31st, 2009 WASHINGTON - According to the Pentagon, nearly one in five (18 percent) of the inmates housed inside the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba take up terrorist activities after they are released. Though the Obama administration is considering the fate of hundreds of detainees on a case-by-case basis, there is a concern in defence circles and in the media that a majority of those who have been released, go right back to their former life.

July 20th, 2009 NORTH CAROLINA - Ponzi king Bernard Madoff, who has been convicted of committing a fraud of 60 billion dollars, is in danger of being beaten up by fellow inmates at a North Carolina federal prison, where he is currently imprisoned. Reportedly, fellow inmates at the federal prison were discussing beating Madoff to boost their jailhouse reputations.

July 16th, 2009 LONDON - A British female prison officer has claimed that she was forced to quit her job for being 'too sexy.' Amitjo Kajla told a tribunal, in Birmingham, that her colleagues at Brinsford Young Offenders Institution insulted her for turning up for work in heavy make-up and in an altered uniform that was criticised as too revealing. Kajla said that she had no option but to quit after she was bullied because of her attractive appearance, reprimanded for being friendly with inmates, and mocked for carrying a handbag.

July 12th, 2009 MELBOURNE - A prison officer, who allegedly supplied pornography to inmates at a prison farm near Beaudesert, Australia, is under investigation. The police and Queensland Corrective Services raided the Palen Creek Correctional Centre to find two portable memory sticks that allegedly contained pornographic images, in the prison officer's locker, the Courier Mail reports.

June 17th, 2009 MADRID - The US has asked Spain to take four detainees from its Guantanamo prison camp when it is closed next year, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said Wednesday. Moratinos spoke in Madrid after Spanish government representatives met Daniel Fried, the US special envoy for closing Guantanamo.

May 10th, 2009 LONDON - A restaurant with a pan-European menu, mood lighting and contemporary design will soon have its official launch - in a Brit jail. The Clink at High Down prison in Surrey is expected to become one of the most talked-about restaurant openings of the year.

May 7th, 2009 LONDON - A damning report prepared by Sussex inspectors has revealed that the Ford Open Prison is 'awash with alcohol' and has sacrificed its role as a place for the rehabilitation of prisoners. According to The Independent, iInspectors who visited the prison near Arundel, West Sussex, found alcohol abuse was rife among prisoners and poor security meant it was awash with other contraband.