20/03/2013 Legal Affairs and Human Rights
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 Vučković (Serbia, SOC) on promoting alternatives to imprisonment will be presented to PACE at a forthcoming session.