Strasbourg, 19.03.2013 – 21 Council of
Europe member states have problems of overcrowding
in prisons, with more than 100 prisoners per 100
prison places.
According to Council of Europe statistics,
the countries where the situation is worst are
Serbia, at 172 prisoners per 100 places, Italy at
153, Cyprus at 151, Greece at 123, Turkey at 115
and France at 108.
In Azerbaijan, Georgia, Latvia, the
Russian Federation and Ukraine, the number of
prisoners exceeds the Council of Europe average of
149 prisoners per 100 000 inhabitants by more than
double.
In a draft resolution adopted today on
promoting alternatives to imprisonment, the Legal
Affairs Committee says that prison overcrowding is
unacceptable and is liable to result in higher
rates of reoffending.
In view of the high costs of constructing
and maintaining new prisons, the committee
recommends concentrating scarce budgetary funds on
improving detention conditions in existing prisons
rather than expanding prison capacity.
To reduce Europe’s prison population, it
invites the member states, particularly those with
the highest rates of imprisonment, to promote the
use of non-custodial sentences, especially for
first-time and non-violent offenders, young
offenders and women. It also points out that
recent advances in technology allowing for new
methods of electronic surveillance have made these
alternatives more cost-effective.
The report by Natasa Vuckovic (Serbia,
SOC) on promoting alternatives to imprisonment
will be presented to PACE at a forthcoming
session.
