The end of lockdown measures to tackle the pandemic produced a rebound effect in the incarceration rates in many European countries between January 2021 and January 2022: the median incarceration rate rose by 2.3 per cent in countries exceeding one million inhabitants, according to the Council of Europe’s Annual Penal Statistics on Prison Populations for 2022.

The latest version of the “SPACE I” survey, conducted by the University of Lausanne, provides country-by-country data on a wide range of issues – including prison populations, incarceration rates and overcrowding, as well as prison budgets and rates of mortality and escape – for 48 prison administrations in the Council of Europe member states.

On 31 January 2022, the incarceration rate, or prison population rate, was 136 inmates per 100,000 inhabitants in Scotland and 132 inmates per 100,000 inhabitants in England & Wales. These rates, classified as “very high”, compare to a Europe-wide median of 104 inmates per 100,000 inhabitants.

From 31 January 2021 to 31 January 2022, the median incarceration rate grew by 2.3 per cent in countries exceeding one million inhabitants. Prison population rates showed small increases in Scotland (+0.7 per cent) and England & Wales (+0.6 per cent) over the same period. The prison administrations where the incarceration rate grew the most were Slovenia (+23 per cent), Finland (+15 per cent), France (+15 per cent), Northern Ireland (+13 per cent) and Montenegro (+12 per cent).

Prison administrations with very high prison density on 31 January 2022 included Scotland (97 inmates per 100 places) and England & Wales (97). Prison administrations below the European prison density median included Northern Ireland (78).

On 31 January 2022, the median proportion of pre-trial detainees across Europe was 25 per cent of the total prison population. In countries of more than one million inhabitants, the prison administrations with the highest percentages of pre-trial detainees included Northern Ireland (41 per cent) and Scotland (30 per cent). England & Wales (16 per cent) was among the prison administrations with the lowest percentages of pre-trial detainees.

The median suicide rate in European prisons in 2021 was 9.4 per 10,000 inmates. Scotland (16) was among the prison administrations in countries with over one million inhabitants with the highest suicide rates.