Growing population in European prisons

Brussels – According to data released today (April 29) by Eurostat, the European Statistical Office, the population in EU prisons in 2022 increased. There were 483,593 people locked up in European penitentiary institutions, equivalent to 108 inmates per 100,000 population; in 2021, there were 106.

The highest proportion between inmates and population was in Hungary with 200, Poland with 190, the Czech Republic and Slovakia with 181. In contrast, the countries where there are fewer inmates based on population are Finland, the Netherlands, and Slovenia.

Nearly 11 of the states in the European Union have overcrowded prisons: that is, there are more inmates than the facility was designed to hold. These countries include Italy, but according to Eurostat, Cyprus, France, and Belgium are the most overcrowded. 

Cyprus is moving to increase the number of places in prisons: the center that offers employment and integration support to inmates has already been converted into a prison. But that is not the only problem facing the Cypriot prison system: Ioannis Kapnoullas, deputy director of the Prison Department, stressed the shortage of medical and nursing staff, insufficient to take care of all inmates.