How Many Prisoners Are There In The World - Top Countries With The Most Prisoners
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| Top Countries With The Most Prisoners (2024 Update) |
| Table of Contents |
A jail is a facility that houses people who have been remanded in custody for criminal activity by the country's judicial authority. Prisons, often known as punishment facilities and personal reform centers, provide the primary functions of retribution, incapacitation, rehabilitation, and deterrent. Let's find out how many prisons in the world right now.
How many prisoners are there in the world right now?
According to Global Prison Trends 2023, there are over 11.5 million prisoners incarcerated around the world. There are more people in prison than ever before, with 7% women and 93% men.
Approximately one-third of the global prison population is deemed innocent yet remains in pre-trial incarceration.
Globally, there are about 740,000 women and girls in prison, with numbers increasing in practically every region.
In 2020, there were an anticipated 261,200 youngsters in criminal justice detention. More than 22.5 million children worldwide have at least one imprisoned parent, accounting for nearly 1% of the global kid population. Another 19,000 children live in prison with their mother.
READ MORE: How Many Prisons and Prisoners Are There In The UK: Full List, Categories, Types Of Sentences
| The rising costs of food, transportation, and electricity have strained jail finances. Families' assistance for loved ones in prison is limited due to inadequate food and medicine supplies, phone call tolls, and costly transportation expenditures. |
What is the oldest prison in the world?
Shepton Mallet Prison is currently the world's oldest running prison. It opened in 1625. It is a popular misconception that Shepton Mallet Prison was established in 1610 as a result of the Bridewell Act, which was passed that year during King James I's reign. However, at the time, the county already had two gaols, one at Ilchester and the other in Taunton. The prison was eventually decommissioned on March 28, 2013, in a ceremony held on the Exercise Yard attended by former and current officers and staff, among others.
What country has the highest prison population per 100,000 people?
El Salvador has the highest jail population ratio, with 605 convicts per 100,000 people.
Rwanda (580), Turkmenistan (576), American Samoa (538), Cuba (510), the United States (505), Panama (478), the Virgin Islands of the United Kingdom (477), Palau (428), Thailand (411), the Bahamas (409), Uruguay, and Guam (408) are the next countries.
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| El Salvador has the most inmates per capita. President Nyib Bukele's anti-gang drive has recently resulted in the imprisonment of 1.6% of the country's population. Currently, it imprisons people at three times the rate of the United States, making its prison population one of the world's largest. The government just constructed a mammoth prison to house 40,000 people convicted of organized gang violence, one of the country's most serious problems. However, human rights activists claim that the government's declared state of emergency has been utilized to conduct arbitrary arrests. In addition, there have been reports of mistreatment of detainees and fatalities in detention. The country has a history of deaths in custody. A gang crackdown in 2022 resulted in the deaths of at least 153 persons in jail. |
Prisoner Population by Age Group
As of March 31, 2023, the majority of convicts worldwide were between the ages of 30 and 39, accounting for 34.4%.
Other prison population statistics by age group are as follows: 40 to 49 years (20.9%), 25 to 29 years (16.2%), 50 to 59 years (11.8%), 20 to 24 years (8.3%), 60 and up (7.2%), and under 20 years (1.2%).
Prison population by gender
Women are still a minority in all jail systems, although the number of women in prison worldwide is growing far faster than men.
There are 10.5 million male prisoners now and 740,000 women in jail.
Countries with the highest number of inmates
1. USA (1.76 million).
2. China (1.69 million).
3. Brazil (840,000).
4. India (573,000).
5. Russia (433,000).
6. Turkey (341,000).
7. Indonesia (267,000).
8. Thailand (262,000).
9. Mexico (234,000).
10.Iran (189,000)
Facts about US prisonsMore than 20% of the world's convicts are held in United States prisons. In the United States, about 2 million people were held in state prisons, with 1,566 in 98 federal institutions. There are 3,116 local jails, 1,323 juvenile correctional institutions, 181 immigration detention facilities, and 80 Indian prisons in the country. As of 2023, the United States had 1, 047,000 prisoners in state prisons, 514,000 in local jails, and 209,000 in federal prisons and jails. In state prisons, the most common offenses are violent (656,000), property (142,000), drug (132,000), public order (110,000), murder (158,000), manslaughter (163,000), rape/sexual assault (163,000), robbery (132,000), assault (146,000), theft (27,000), car theft (7,000), burglary (80,000), fraud (13,000), drug possession (34,000), driving under the influence (15,000), and weapons (39,000). |
Countries with lowest amount of inmates per 100,000 people
Central African Republic – 16
Congo – 27
Democratic Republic of Congo – 29
Mali – 33
India – 33
Oman – 36
Nigeria – 37
Iceland – 37
Japan – 41
Burkina Faso – 41
Pakistan – 43
Mauritania – 46
Liberia – 47
Timor-Leste – 51
Ghana – 51
Finland – 51
Sudan – 52
South Sudan – 52
Yemen – 53
Qatar – 53
Niger – 53
Conclusion
The US has the highest number of prisoners in the world while El Salvador has the highest jail population ratio. There is an incresing number of inmates in the world with more women convicted.
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