Prison population. The global prison population has reached its highest level ever: more than 11 million people are imprisoned. This number has increased by 20% between 2002 and 2020. The United States has the highest absolute number of people in prison globally, with over 2.1 million people in prison at a rate of 655 people per 100,000 of the national population. China has the second highest prison population, with an estimated 1.7 million people imprisoned, followed by Brazil where, based on figures from June 2019, the prison population approaches 760,000. The number of female prisoners has increased by 50% since 2002. The Prison Policy Initiative in the US has noted that women continued to be the fastest growing segment of the country’s prison population.

Life sentence. The number of people serving life sentences increased by 84% from 2000 to 2014. The numbers in the US have reached record levels, with 206, 268 people serving life with parole, life without the possibility of parole or virtual life sentences as of 2016. In this country with the highest number of people sentenced to life imprisonment in the world, the statistics show that one of every seven people in US prisons is now serving life.

Drugs. Drug prohibition policies contribute largely to the increase in prison populations. In some countries, pre-trial detention is mandatory for drug-related offences, regardless of their nature, among which Bolivia, Brazil and Ecuador. Ruth Dreifuss, the former President of Switzerland and member of the Global Commission on Drugs, has written that: “Prison is the most glaring expression of the failures of prohibition-based drug policies… Above all, incarceration is the epitome of the human cost of these failed policies.”

Children. Detention of children is not used a last resort: at least 410,000 children are detained in remand centres and prisons every year.
The Global Study notes that children from poor and socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds, migrant and indigenous communities, ethnic and religious minorities and the LGBTQ community, as well as children with disabilities and, above all, boys, are over represented in detention and throughout judicial proceedings. In the US, one recent study found that black girls account for 35 % of girls in detention.

Minorities such as foreigners, women and the poorest in communities are most likely to be detained on remand. Indigenous peoples, including children, young adults and women, are still overrepresented in prison populations in Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

Death row. There are over 20,000 people on death row. Iraq has sentenced more than 3,000 people to death on charges of terrorism since 2013, including foreign nationals.

Pre-trial detention. Recourse to pretrial detention is not an exception, but is often the norm: prisoners who are not yet convicted nor found guilty of any crime outnumber convicted prisoners in around 46 countries.
Niger is reported to have 60 % of the prison population awaiting trial, with similar figures in Liberia where at least 64 % of detainees were still awaiting trial in April 2019. The proportion of people on remand is even higher in Cambodia with 72 % of people in prison being held in pre-trial detention as of November 2018. This phenomenon does not only impact low-income countries: in Canada, there were 50 % more adults in pre-trial detention than in sentenced custody in 2017-18.

In numbers: overcrowding, food, and prison management¶

Violations. Overall poor conditions and pressure lead to increased human rights violations. The prison density exceeds its maximum occupancy in at least 124 countries. Around 102 countries and territories are reported to have prison occupancy levels of over 110 %, and 22 operate at occupancy levels of over 200 %.

Budget. Mass imprisonment is expensive. Yet most criminal justice systems remain underfunded. The bulk of penitentiary budgets is spent on infrastructure, staff and security. Budgets for food and health care remain very low.
Kazakhstan allocates 1.41€ a day per prisoner for food, and this amount was twice lower in past years. In Cambodia, the amount allocated for food per prisoner per day was reported to be less than EUR €1 (KHR 3500) and about the same amount is planned in the Central African Republic for 2020.

Suicide. Suicide rates are more than twice as high in prisons than in the surrounding community. In New Zealand, incidents of suicide and self-harm have increased in recent years, with people in prison being three times more likely than the general population to be diagnosed with a mental health disorder.

Enforcement. The use of force within detention facilities is on a constant rise. Over the past few years, lethal force has been used against prisoners mainly during major security breaches or prison riots, resulting in “the killing of several dozen detainees” according to the UN. In a most recent example from May 2019, four people were fatally shot in a Myanmar prison riot.

PRI recommends that governments urgently reduce their prison populations and begin a long-term shift towards alternatives to detention.
The report suggests that alternatives to imprisonment (including non-custodial and semi-custodial measures) are a solution to the issues affecting overcrowded prison populations, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Alternative measures can be especially beneficial in helping:

-reduce the issues of overcrowding and its associated risks;

-decrease the costs of criminal justice systems;

-avoid the damage of imprisonment and reduce recidivism.