Prison density in Cyprus is the second highest in Europe, according to the Council of Europe´s Annual Penal Statistics for 2022 (SPACE I), released on Tuesday.
Regarding women inmates, the CoE’s statistics show that as of 31 January 2022, the prison administration with more than 1 million inhabitants where the proportion was the highest was Cyprus (9.5%), while Cyprus ranks third as regards prison administrations with the highest proportions of foreign inmates (in countries with more than 1 million inhabitants) with 52%.
According to the Cyprus indicators, on 31st January 2022, the total number of inmates (including pre-trial detainees) was 808. In Cyprus, the ratio of inmates per one staff member was 2.0 (average was 1.5).
Drug offences in Cyprus were 20.0%, homicide including homicide attempt was 11.7% and theft with 5.2%.
In addition, Cyprus is the prison administration with the lowest average length of imprisonment (1.3 months).
Cyprus ranks second as regards overcrowding in prisons. The report says that overall, in Europe, prison density grew by 4.8% from January 2021 to January 2022. Prison administrations that reported a prison density of more than 105 inmates per 100 places, an indicator of severe overcrowding are Romania (124 inmates per 100 places), Cyprus (118), France (115), Belgium (115), Türkiye (113), Greece (108) and Italy (107). The average was 84.8.
Regarding women inmates, as of 31 January 2022, 5 out of 100 inmates in Europe was a woman. The prison administrations of countries with more than 1 million inhabitants where the proportion was the highest were Cyprus (9.5%), Malta (8.6%), Latvia (8.4%), Czech Republic (8.1%), Hungary (7.6%), Slovak Republic (7.3%), Finland (7.2%) and Spain (State administration (7.2%), and Portugal (7%).
As far as foreigners are concerned, the survey says that overall, in Europe – on 31 January 2022 – 16% of the prison population were foreigners. Prison administrations with the highest proportions of foreign inmates (in countries or regions with more than 1 million inhabitants, were Switzerland (70%), Greece (59%), Cyprus (52%), Austria (49%), Malta (49%), Catalonia (Spain) (48%), Belgium (43%), Estonia (33%), Italy (31%), Slovenia (29%), Denmark (27%), Spain (State administration) (27%) and Germany (26%).
Prison administrations with the lowest percentage of foreign inmates were Romania (1%), Republic of Moldova (1.4%), Republika Srpska (Bosnia and Herzegovina) (1.4%).
Regarding offences, it says that on 31 January 2022, drug offences continued to be the most common main conviction among prisoners; these offenders constituted 19% of the prison population, followed by theft (15%), homicide or attempted homicide (14%), robbery (10.8%), assault and battery (10.3%), sexual offences excluding rape (6%), rape (5%), road traffic offences (4.6%), economic or financial crimes (3.9%) in the 46 prison administrations that provided this data. In Cyprus, homicide including attempt was 11.7%, theft was 5.2% and drug offences 20.0%.
The statistics show that for the incarceration rates (number of inmates per 100,000 inhabitants), on 31 January 2022, there were 981,575 inmates in the 48 prison administrations of Council of Europe member states that participated in the SPACE I survey. The countries with the highest incarceration rates were Türkiye (355 inmates per 100,000 inhabitants), Georgia (237), Azerbaijan (217).
Not taking into account countries with less than one million inhabitants, the lowest incarceration rates were found in the prison administrations of Republika Srpska (Bosnia and Herzegovina) (49), Finland (50), the Netherlands (54), Norway (56), Cyprus (66), Slovenia (66), Germany (67).
From 31 January 2021 to 31 January 2022, the median incarceration rate grew by 2.3% in countries exceeding one million inhabitants. The prison administrations where the incarceration rate grew the most were Slovenia (+23%), Finland (+15%), France (+15%). In Cyprus it showed a decrease of 1.4%.
Furthermore, as of 31 January 2022, the median average length of imprisonment in European prison administrations was 8.5 months. Prison administrations from countries with more than one million inhabitants with the highest average length of imprisonment were Portugal (30.6 months), Ukraine (27.9), Republic of Moldova (27.7). The prison administrations with the lowest average length of imprisonment were Cyprus (1.3 months), Switzerland (1.8), and Republika Srpska (Bosnia and Herzegovina) (3.6).
Of all inmates, approximately 16.5% were over 50. Italia was the country with the highest proportion of inmates over 50 years of age (28%), while of all inmates, approximately 3% were 65 years or over. North Macedonia was the country with the highest proportion of inmates over 65 (8.3%). In Cyprus, 14.7% of inmates were aged 50 or over and 2.7% aged 65 or over.