Georgia has Highest Prison Population among Council of Europe Members
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Tuesday, March 27
The Council of Europe’s (CoE) latest report reads that among the 47 members of CoE, Georgia has the biggest number of prisoners, amounting to 246.3 per 100,000 citizens, almost twice the European median of 117.1.
The report reads that the total number of inmates in Georgia is 9,534 (including 1,112 pre-trial detainees and 20 persons held in custodial institutions/units for juvenile offenders).
“The total number of inmates decreased from 24,186 in 2011 to 10,242 in 2015 and remained roughly the same in 2016,” CoE says.
The report announced that the average length of imprisonment in 2015 was 8.5 months; the duration of pre-trial detention was almost 3.5 months.
“The biggest proportion of inmates was serving sentences for theft (18.9%), drug offences (17.5%), robbery (12.6%) and homicide (12.1%),” CoE states.
For the mortality rates amongst inmates Georgia ranked as the fifth lowest in the survey.
The report, which includes data through 2016, shows that Georgia comes in fifth after Finland, Iceland, Monaco and San Marino, with 12 deaths in 2015, including two cases of suicide.
The survey contained information from 47 out of 52 prison administrations in the 47 Council of Europe member states.
The survey also reports that the total number of releases in Georgia in 2015 was 7,954, which is significantly higher compared to the European median.
