IMPRISONMENT IN WESTERN EUROPE: SOME FACTS AND FIGURES (NACRO)
01 January 1991
IMPRISONMENT IN WESTERN EUROPE: SOME FACTS AND FIGURES (NACRO)
bacdoc June=1991
The figures contained in this briefing paper have been
extracted from statistics compiled by the Council of Europe
which will shortly be published in its regular `Prison
Information Bulletin`.
The Prison Population
The latest available comparative figures for the prison
population of member states of the Council of Europe are for 1
September 1989. The Figures are as follows:
Country Prison Number of Prisoners
Population per 100,000
on 1.9.1989 Population
United Kingdom 55,047 96.5
Luxembourg 345 92.7
West Germany 51,729 83.8
Turkey 48,413 83.5
Portugal 8,458 82.0
Spain 31,137 80.0
France 45,102 78.5
Austria 5,771 76.0
Switzerland 4,714 71.4
Belgium 6,761 68.5
Denmark 3,378 66.0
Finland 3,103 62.3
Sweden 4,796 57.0
Ireland 1,980 56.0
Norway 2,171 54.3
Italy 30,594 54.0
Greece 4,564 50.0
Netherlands 6,461 44.6
Iceland 113 44.6
Cyprus 191 34.1
Therefore, the United Kingdom had a higher prison population on
that date, both in absolute numbers and relative to its overall
population, than any other member state of the Council of
Europe.
The figures for the individual countries within the United
Kingdom were as follows:
England and Wales 48,481 96.2
Scotland 4,786 94.0
Northern Ireland 1,780 112.8
Since then the prison population of England and Wales has
markedly fallen. A year later on 31 August 1990 it stood at
44,465, or 86.2 prisoners per 100,000 population. Comparative
figures for 1990 for other European countries are not yet
available-, but this proportion is still higher than the
proportion of the population in prison in 1989 in all the other
countries of Western Europe except Luxembourg.
Young Prisoners
The proportion of the prison population of Council of
Europe countries who were under 21 on I
September 1989 was as follows:
Country Total Prison Percentage
Population Under 21
Ireland 1,980 26.2
United Kingdom 55,047 21.3
Cyprus 191 19.9
Netherlands 6,461 13.0 (under 23)
France 45,102 10.8
Portugal 8,458 9.1
Iceland 113 8.0
Norway 2,171 7.9
Luxembourg 345 7.2
Spain 31,137 6.7
Finland 3,103 6.6
Switzerland 4,714 6.1 (under 18)
Greece 4,564 5.3
Sweden 4,796 4.0
Austria 5,771 2.6 (under 19)
Turkey 48,413 0.9 (under 18)
Belgium 6,761 0.2 (under 18)
Equivalent figures for West Germany, Italy and Denmark are not
available. The figures for the individual countries of the
United Kingdom were as follows:
England and Wales 48,481 21.6
Scotland 4,786 21.1
Northern Ireland 1,780 13.8