Prison overcrowding continues to be an acute problem in a significant number of European prison administrations, according to the Council of Europe’s recently released Annual Penal Statistics on Prison Populations (SPACE I) for 2023. And Romania, with a prison density of 120 inmates per 100 places available - the second-highest in Europe, faces severe overcrowding.

In countries with over 500,000 inhabitants, twelve prison administrations reported more inmates than places available in January 2023, and seven faced severe overcrowding, the Council of Europe said.  

Overall, in Europe, the number of prisoners per 100 places available grew by 2% from January 31, 2022, to January 31, 2023 - from 91.7 to 93.5 inmates. 

Seven prison administrations reported a prison density of more than 105 inmates per 100 places available, indicating severe overcrowding. Cyprus tops the list (166 inmates per 100 places), followed by Romania (120), France (119), Belgium (115), Hungary (112), Italy (109), and Slovenia (107).

Meanwhile, five prison administrations reported very high prison density: Greece (103), Sweden (102), North Macedonia (101), Croatia (101), and Türkiye (100). 

According to the same source, other administrations reported a prison density below 100 but were on the edge of overcrowding, namely Ireland (99), Portugal (98), Finland (97), Denmark (97), England and Wales (UK) (97), and Azerbaijan (96).

At the end of January 2023, 1.03 million inmates were detained in the 48 prison administrations of Council of Europe member states that provided this information (out of 51). Sixteen prison administrations experienced a significant increase in their prison population rates from January 2022 to January 2023, with the highest figures registered in the Republic of Moldova (+52%), North Macedonia (+26%), Cyprus (+25%), and Türkiye (+15%).

Türkiye is also the state with the highest incarceration rate (408 inmates per 100,000 inhabitants), followed by Georgia (256), Azerbaijan (244), the Republic of Moldova (242), Hungary (211), Poland (194), Slovakia (183), Albania (179), Czechia (176), Lithuania (174), and Latvia (172).

The same report said that, on January 31, 2023, on average, almost one-third of inmates in European prisons were in pre-trial detention. The prison administrations with the highest proportions of pre-trial detainees were Albania (55%), Armenia (53%), Luxembourg (49%), Switzerland (46%), the Netherlands (45%), Montenegro (42%), and Northern Ireland (UK) (41%). Meanwhile, Romania (12%) was among the countries with the lowest proportions of pre-trial detainees. 

On average, 27% of inmates in European prisons were foreigners, and the lowest proportions were found in Romania (1.1%), the Republic of Moldova (1.5%), and Azerbaijan (1.9%). At the other end, prison administrations with the highest proportions of foreigners were Luxembourg (78%), Switzerland (71%), Greece (57%), Cyprus (55%), Austria (51%), Catalonia (Spain) (49%), Malta (49%), and Belgium (42%), in countries with over 500,000 inhabitants.

“In Central and Eastern European countries, the proportion is significantly lower than in the rest of Europe; this overlaps with the natural movement of European populations since the 2000s: rising populations in Western, Southern and Northern Europe and decreasing populations in Central, South-Eastern and Eastern Europe,” the Council of Europe explained.

Key findings of the SPACE I report for 2023 are available here.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Thidarat Petprasom/Dreamstime.com)