Georgian Prisons With Highest Incarceration Rate in Europe

The Council of Europe Annual Penal Statistics (SPACE) highlighted the precarious situation in European prisons with inmates occupying over 9 out of ten available places. The report published today compares 2016 with earlier years.

The overall incarceration rate across European countries grew from 115.7 to 117.1 inmates per 100,000 inhabitants from 2015 to 2016. Since 2012, the rate was in decline, where a shocking 125.6 prisoners accounted for 100,000 inhabitants.

Georgian’s prison population rate is the highest among the surveyed countries and amounts to 246.3 per 100,000 inhabitants, more than twice the European median of 117.1. However compared to 2015, prison population rate per 100 000 inhabitants decreased by 6.7%.

The total capacity of penal institutions in Georgia is 12,681 places, while the average surface area available per inmate is 4 square meters. Prison density per 100 places is 75.2, significantly lower than the European median (91.6).

One of the main factors influencing the incarceration rate is the length of the sanctions and measures imposed. The average length of detention, which can be seen as an indicator of the way criminal law is applied, increases slightly to 8.5 months

Some countries experienced a growing incarceration rate, such as Bulgaria (+10.8%), Turkey (+9.5%), the Czech Republic (+7.6%), Serbia (+6.6%) and Denmark (+5.5%).

However, some national prison administrations have recorded a decrease, strikingly so in Iceland (-15.9%), Northern Ireland (-11.8), Lithuania (-11.1%), Belgium (-10.1%) and Georgia (-6.7%).

One of the main issues concerning prison is the lack of sufficient capacity for new inmates, which affects the quality of the services and can lead to additional psychological stress. 13 out of 47 states condemned their national situations, pointing to overcrowded prisons. The highest levels were reported in “The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” (132 prisoners per 100 places available), Hungary (132), Cyprus (127), Belgium (120), France (117), Portugal (109), Italy (109), Serbia (109), Albania (108), the Czech Republic (108), Romania (106) and Turkey (103).

By Benjamin Music