Horror stories abound about prison gangs, rape, warders who turn a blind eye and desperate overcrowding. Most overpopulated prisons: Comores – 388.What does a normal day look like in one of South Africa’s prisons? Do they still sew mailbags? What’s on the menu? What sort of exercise possibilities are there? What are the chances of getting a single cell?.Highest foreign prisoner rate: United Arab Emirates – 92.2%.Highest female prisoner rate: Liechtenstein – 22.2%.Highest pre-trial detainee rate: Libya – 90%.Highest prisoner rate: Seychelles – 799 per 100,000.Biggest prisoner population: USA – 2,217,000.A small percentage are juveniles or minors (0.2%), and 6.3% are foreigners.Īccording to the WPB, 26.9% (42,901) South African prisoners are awaiting trial. South Africa’s prisoners are largely male, with female prisoners making up only 2.5% of the total. South Africa hit a peak prisoner population in 2004 with 187,640 prisoners at a rate of 403 per 100,000 people – however the highest prisoner per 100,000 population rate was in 1980, where it was at 409. On paper however, the Institute for Criminal Policy Research points to an overall downward trend in prisoner numbers since 2008. This was reportedly due to overcrowding and inhumane conditions – including a lack of sanitary facilities. In September it was reported that almost 4,200 prisoners had to be evacuated from the Pollsmoor Maximum Security Prison outside Cape Town, after two inmates died from rat-related diseases. South Africa’s 231 active correctional centres are overcrowded, with an official prison system capacity of 120,000 – giving an occupancy rate of 133%. The 15 biggest prisoner populations in the world More than 400,000 US inmates are awaiting trial, while more than 166,000 inmates are incarcerated for murder, 95,000 for sexual assault, and 70,000 for rape. The remaining are either in the Open prison on Coetivy island, 290 kilometres south of the main island of Mahé, which is for the rehabilitation of prisoners or in the prison where drug traffickers, sexual offenders and refractory prisoners are incarcerated, on Marie-Louise, an outer island of the Seychelles. The USA is still rated second, however, with 698 prisoners per 100,000 people.Īccording to the Seychelles News Agency, the majority of nearly 800 inmates are incarcerated in the main Montagne Posée Prison, some 500 of them. While the USA has the biggest prisoner population in the world, the Seychelles, with a population of 92,000 trumps the USA for the highest rate of prisoners, with 799 per 100,000. San Marino also has the lowest prisoner rate in the world, at 6 per 100,000 people. San Marino – a ‘micro-state’ surrounded by Italy has only two prisoners (out of a population of 33,700), the lowest figure in the world, ahead of Liechtenstein, with seven prisoners out of a population of 37,130. The USA has 4,575 confinement facilities with an official holding capacity of 2,157,769.Ĭhina has the second highest prison population in the world, with 1.65 million prisoners, followed by Russia with 644,700 prisoners. The US figures include 731,200 people in local jails, as well as 1.48 milllion people in state or federal prisons. The United States tops the rankings globally, with 2.2 million prisoners in its criminal justice system.
This represents the 11th highest prisoner population in the world in terms of sheer numbers, but only 35th (out of 222 regions) with 292 prisoners per 100,000 people. The latest available prisoner statistics from across the world shows which country has the largest prison population – and where South Africa fits into the picture.Īccording to the World Prison Brief by the Institute for Criminal Policy Research, South Africa has a total prisoner population of 159,241 people as of March 2015 – including pre-trial detainees.
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