The latest Council of Europe report on overall prison conditions, published on Tuesday, points to a persistent problem of overcrowding, with several countries in a critical situation and others close to maximum capacity.
Based on data supplied by the prison services of the 46 member states of the Strasbourg-based organisation, the document confirms the trend towards rising prison populations, already highlighted in the latest Eurostat survey (+2%), also made public only a few days ago.
Between 31 January 2024 and 31 January 2025, the number of prisoners per 100 available places rose from 94.7 to 95.2, despite regional discrepancies. In the previous assessment, six countries reported severe overcrowding; there are now nine. Turkey and France are among the states with the most congested prisons, with 131 prisoners for every 100 places. They are followed by Croatia (123), Italy (121), Malta (118), Cyprus (117), Hungary (115), Belgium (114) and Ireland (112).
Five more countries are above capacity and face what is described as moderate overcrowding: Finland (110), Greece (108), the United Kingdom in its Scottish part (106), North Macedonia (104) and Sweden (103).
As for Portugal’s prison system, it is operating very close to capacity (99), in a better position than Romania (100), but with a higher occupancy rate than Azerbaijan (98), England and Wales in the United Kingdom (96), Serbia (96), Czechia (95), the Netherlands (95), Denmark (95) and Switzerland (95). The Council of Europe points out that an occupancy rate of 90% already corresponds to a high‑risk indicator and significant operational pressure.
