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Number of Prisoners: Statistics for 2005-2007

By Bartolus

The EC Commission recently released a fascinating set of statistics on the number of prisoners in the EU between 2005 and 2007. You can find them here.

During that period there were 607 000 adult and juvenile prisoners including pre-trial detainees as at September 1st of each year. That figure does not include those held (often in appalling circumstances and with few rights) pending investigation into their immigration status or awaiting deportation.

The EU wide average is 123 prisoners per 100 000 of population. In comparison, in the USA there are 758 prisoners per 100 000 of population.

The highest prisoner rates are to be found in the Baltic countries, Poland and the Czech Republic with the very highest in Estonia (302 prisoners per 100 000 inhabitants ), Latvia (293), Lithuania (232), Poland (228) and the Czech Republic (185). The lowest rates were registered in Slovenia (60), Finland (68), Denmark (71), Ireland (75 in 2004-2006) and Sweden (77). Interestingly, a high crime rate country such as Belgium has a below average rate for prisoners (91).

More complete statistics on crime (number of recoded offences etc.) in the EU are available in this brochure.

Full post as published by EU Law Blog on July 04, 2009 (boomark / email).