Turkey top incarcerator among Council of Europe member states

According to the Council of Europe’s Annual Penal Statistics, Turkey has an incarceration rate of 355 inmates per 100,000 inhabitants, marking the highest rate among member states. The country also has Europe's largest prison population at 303,945.

Tuesday June 27 2023 10:16 pm

Duvar English

Turkey has the highest incarceration rate among 48 Council of Europe member states, with a rate of 355 inmates per 100,000 inhabitants, according to the Council of Europe’s Annual Penal Statistics on Prison Populations for 2022.

Turkey was followed by Georgia (237 inmates per 100,000 inhabitants), Azerbaijan (217), Hungary (194), Lithuania (191), Poland (190), Slovak Republic (187) and Albania (176), BBC Turkish reported.

The figures were valid as of Jan. 31, 2022.

Turkey has the highest prison population with 303,945 inmates (including pre-trial detainees), according to the report.

Turkey's imprisonment rate has registered a 9.2 percent increase between 2021 and 2022.

Turkey is among the countries where prisons are used above the capacity, with 113 prisoners in every 100-person cell. The most crowded cells are in Romania with 124 and Cyprus with 118.

32 percent of the prisoners are convicted of drug-related offenses.