8. Terre Haute, USA
This prison complex in Indiana consists of maximum-security, medium-security and low-security units. Nicknamed “Guantanamo North,” Terre Haute is home to the federal government’s execution chamber. Death row inmates are housed in a Special Confinement Unit where they live in small cells by themselves and are let out only three times per week to use the exercise cages. This is the facility where Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the Boston Marathon Bomber, will live until his execution.
7. La Sabaneta Prison, Venezuela
This heavily overcrowded facility is home to more than 3,700 prisoners who live in a space designed to accommodate only 700 individuals. Such overcrowding breeds disease and violence among the inmates. La Sabaneta is ruled by a system of corruption, where guards give preferential treatment to those with money and power. These select individuals are able to sleep within the cells on a bed, while everyone else must use a hammock in the corridors. And there is no daily routine of set activities, allowing the inmates to do and behave as they wish, often leading to extremely violent encounters that stem from their lack of mental stimulation and cramped living quarters.