Malta prisons experience 45% increase in inmate population since 2005

Malta has experienced a 49% increase in the presence of foreign inmates in its prisons, as new statistics reveal the acute and persistent problem of overcrowding in a significant number of European prison administrations.

Malta has also experienced a high percentage change in prison populations.

In countries with over 500,000 inhabitants, the prison administrations with the highest percentage change in population rates from 2005 to 2023 were Türkiye (439%), Cyprus (76%), Albania (63%), Serbia (55%), Malta (45%), North Macedonia (36%), Croatia (35%) and Hungary (30%).

In countries with over 500,000 inhabitants, the prison administrations with the highest percentage of foreign inmates on 31 January 2023 were Luxembourg (78%), Switzerland (71%), Greece (57%), Cyprus (55%), Austria (51%), Malta (49%), Belgium (42%), and Germany (38%).

The prison administrations with the highest percentage of women inmates on 31 January 2023 were Iceland (9.9%), Cyprus (9.2%), Malta (9.1%), Czechia (8.5%), Latvia (7.7%), Finland (7.7%), Hungary (7.4%), Slovakia (7.2%), Portugal (7.2%) and Spain (total) (7.0%).

 And in nine countries with over 500,000 inhabitants, more than one quarter of all inmates had been convicted for drug-related offences: Latvia (42%), Azerbaijan (42%), Türkiye (34%), Italy (31%), Belgium (29%), Serbia (29%), Denmark (27%), Sweden (25%) and Malta (25%).

“For the second consecutive year, the overall European prison population rate slightly grew. This could still be a bounce-back effect from the reduction experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic years, due to the drop in offline crimes during the lockdowns, the release of prisoners in some countries, and a decrease in the activity of the criminal justice systems,” said Professor Marcelo Aebi, Head of the SPACE research team from the University of Lausanne.

“However, this increase contrasts starkly with the overall strong downward trend in incarceration rates since 2013. It remains to be seen if there is a change of trend. The persistence of overcrowding remains an important challenge for many prison administrations.”