Here’s a breakdown of the data provided in the text, focusing on prison overcrowding and incarceration rates in Council of Europe member states:
Key Findings on Prison Overcrowding:
High Overcrowding: Several countries are experiencing meaningful overcrowding, with inmate numbers exceeding places.
Most Overcrowded: Greece (134 inmates per 100 places), Cyprus (132), France (124), Italy (118), Romania (116), and Belgium (113).
Moderate Overcrowding: Eight prison administrations reported moderate overcrowding.
Croatia (110), Ireland (105), Sweden (105), Hungary (104), Azerbaijan (103), Finland (103), Türkiye (102), and North Macedonia (101).
Near Full Capacity: Scotland (100) and England and Wales (98) in the UK, and Serbia (98) were operating at or near full capacity, with a risk of tipping into overcrowding.
prison Population Rates:
Overall Median: On January 31, 2024, there were 1,021,431 inmates in 51 prison administrations. The median prison population rate across Europe was 105 inmates per 100,000 inhabitants.
Slight Decrease: For countries with populations over one million that submitted data for both 2023 and 2024, the median European prison population rate slightly decreased from 116.2 to 115.1 inmates per 100,000 inhabitants (-0.9%).
Changes in Prison Population Rates (January 2023 to January 2024):
Significant Increases: Thirteen prison administrations saw significant increases in thier prison population rates (countries with over 500,000 inhabitants):
Slovenia (+25.4%), Sweden (+15.5%), Malta (+11.1%), Serbia (+9.4%), Croatia (+8.3%), Azerbaijan (+8.3%), Italy (+7.8%), Albania (+7.5%), UK (Northern Ireland) (+6.9%), Belgium (+6.8%), UK (Scotland) (+6.7%), UK (England and Wales) (+6.4%), and Ireland (+5.4%).
Substantial Falls: Incarceration rates fell substantially in:
Bulgaria (-14.5%), Luxembourg (-14.5%), Türkiye (-12.9%), Estonia (-12%), Lithuania (-9.4%), and Hungary (-7.3%).
stable Rates: 24 prison administrations reported stable rates.
Countries with the Highest Incarceration Rates:
Türkiye (356 inmates per 100,000 inhabitants)
Azerbaijan (264)
Georgia (261)
Republic of Moldova (235)
Poland (202)
Hungary (195)
Albania (192)
Czechia (180)
Slovakia (179)
Serbia (177)
Latvia (175)
Montenegro (164)
Lithuania (158)
UK (England and Wales) (145)
North Macedonia (143)
Expert Opinion on Overcrowding:
Professor Marcelo Aebi highlights that overcrowding negatively impacts living conditions and rehabilitation efforts. He suggests that shorter average detention periods correlate with lower prison population rates. He emphasizes the importance of sentence duration as a tool for managing overcrowding and advocates for alternative sanctions and reducing sentence lengths,notably for non-violent and low-risk offenders.
Sources:
SPACE I – Council of Europe’s 2024 Annual Penal Statistics on Prison Populations
* Key findings of the council of Europe’s 2024 Annual Penal Statistics on Prison Populations
