The world's most notorious prisons...

With President Obama expected to announce the closing of the detention center at Guantánamo Bay within days, here's a look at five of the most brutal and controversial prisons that are still in operation around the world.

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In 1999 there were 124 suicide attempts in La Santé, almost five times as many as in California's entire prison system during the same period. These facts only became available in 2000 when the head surgeon of the prison, Véronique Vasseur, published a bestselling book chronicling abuses in the prison. The book caused an uproar and a celebrity campaign to improve prisons throughout France, but little in the way of progress. France's prison conditions were condemned by the U.N. Human Rights Committee and the country's own minister of justice in 2008. Full story...

See also:

1. A North Korean prison escapee tells a horrific story...
2. Germany: inmate escapes prison by mailing himself out!!!
3. Prisoners in Britain become eco-friendly...
4. Inmate loses weight ... to escape from jail!!!
5. Brazilian prisoners use pigeons to smuggle in drugs!!!