The combination of torture and ill-treatment in detention, the sealing of avenues for legal redress, and the silencing of public information about clandestine detention abuses has created an increasingly hostile environment for detainees in many countries. Detainees may be happy to have survived, lucky if they are not subjected to torture. Yet their daily life in prison is usually harsh, and even after their initial arrest and interrogation they may be plagued by hunger, illness or the sadism of jailers. This issue of the International Review of the Red Cross explores some specific aspects of detention.