In the country on January 31 last year, the so-called the incarceration rate was 142 prisoners per 100.000 inhabitants, which represents an increase of 25,5 percent on an annual basis, data from the Council of Europe's Annual Penal Statistics for 2023 showed.

With this, Macedonia is in second place among the members of the Council of Europe according to the growth of the rate of incarceration behind Moldova, where it increased by 52,1 percent. Behind the country are Cyprus with a growth rate of 24,8 percent, Turkey with 15, Azerbaijan with 12,5, Ireland with 11,7, Montenegro with 11,3, Armenia with 10,6, Croatia with 10,4 and Hungary with 8,7 percent.

The biggest reduction in the rate last year on January 31, 2023 compared to the same date in 2022 was recorded by Lithuania at 8,9 percent, before Estonia at 8,8 and Greece at 5,2 percent.

Of the other countries in the region, in Bulgaria the rate of incarceration in one year has increased by 8,1 percent, in Serbia by 4,2 percent, in Slovenia by 2,1 percent and in Albania by 1,6 percent, while in Romania it is unchanged. . Otherwise, the average closing rate in Europe recorded a growth of 2,4 percent.

Seen nominally, with 142 prisoners per 100.000 inhabitants, Macedonia is in 15th place among the 48 prison administrations of the member states of the Council of Europe covered by the analysis.

Turkey has the highest incarceration rate of 408 prisoners per 100.000 inhabitants, ahead of Georgia with 256, Azerbaijan with 244, Moldova with 242, Hungary with 211, Poland with 194, Slovakia with 183, Albania with 179, Czech Republic with 176, Lithuania with 174, Latvia with 172, Montenegro with 168, Serbia with 162, Estonia with 151 and Macedonia with 142 prisoners per 100.000 inhabitants.

The lowest incarceration rates were recorded in Finland at 52 prisoners per 100.000 inhabitants, the Netherlands at 52, Norway at 55, Germany at 67, Slovenia at 68, Denmark at 71, Switzerland at 73, Armenia at 79, Sweden at 80 and Ireland at 85. prisoners per 100.000 inhabitants.

The total number of prisoners in the countries covered by the Annual Penal Statistics on January 31, 2023 was 1.034.876 people. The most prisoners or 348.265 were in Turkey, ahead of Great Britain with 90.964, France with 72.294, Poland with 71.228, Germany with 56.294, Italy with 56.127, Spain with 55.909 and Ukraine with 42.708 imprisoned persons.

The average density in prisons in 37 prison administrations of the members of the Council of Europe decreased by 2 percent on an annual basis from 93,5 to 91,6 prisoners per 100 available places, while in the country it was 101, which ranks it in the division of 10th place with Croatia in terms of overcrowding in penal institutions.

In seven countries, the prison density was over 105 prisoners in 100 places, which is considered "severe overcrowding", namely Cyprus with 166, Romania with 120, France with 119, Belgium with 115, Hungary with 112, Italy with 109 and Slovenia with 107 prisoners in 100 places. The first ten that round off Macedonia and Croatia are complemented by Greece with 103 and Sweden with 102 prisoners in 100 free places.

Ukraine has the lowest prison density with 48 prisoners per 100 available places, ahead of Armenia with 53, Spain (without Catalonia) with 60, Estonia with 68 and Bulgaria and Lithuania with 69 prisoners per 100 available places.

Of the other countries in the region, the prison density in Turkey is 100, Montenegro with 78 and Albania with 87 prisoners per 100 free places.

The average age of Macedonian prisoners is 35 years, which is below the average determined in the 40 prison administrations covered by the analysis, which is 38 years.

Bulgaria has the youngest prisoners on average with an average age of 33 years, ahead of Sweden with 34 and Denmark, Moldova and France, where the average age of the prison population, as in the country, is 35 years.

Serbia has the oldest prisoners with an average age of 50, followed by Georgia with 44, Italy with 43, Portugal and Spain with 41 each, and Estonia, Albania, the Czech Republic and Norway with prisoners with an average age of 40.

Of the total number of prisoners, approximately 15 percent were between the ages of 50 and 64, and this rate in the country is 21 percent. Italy and Slovakia have the highest percentage of prisoners in this age category or 24, followed by Macedonia and Portugal with 21 and Spain with 19 percent.

Of all prisoners, only nearly three percent were over the age of 65, with the rate highest in Croatia at 10,3 percent, followed by Lithuania and Italy with five each, Slovenia with 4,8, and Latvia and Albania with 4,7 percent each.

On January 31, 2023, only 5 out of 100 prisoners in Europe were women. The highest percentage of female prisoners was registered in Cyprus at 9,2 percent, before the Czech Republic at 8,5, Latvia and Finland at 7,7, Hungary at 7,4 and Spain (without Catalonia), Slovakia and Portugal with 7,2 percent of women. prisoners. Albania had the fewest female prisoners at 1,3 percent, before Croatia with 1,9, Armenia with 2,6, Azerbaijan with 2,9, France with 3,2 and Georgia with 3,4 percent.

Out of the total number of prisoners in European prisons, even 27 percent were foreigners. The highest rate of foreign prisoners or 78 percent was in Luxembourg, ahead of Switzerland with 71, Greece with 57, Cyprus with 55, Austria with 51, Spain and Malta with 49 each, Belgium with 42, Germany with 40, Slovenia with 34, Estonia with 33, Italy with 32 and Denmark with 29 percent. The lowest percentage of foreign prisoners was in prisons in Romania, only 1,1 percent, ahead of Moldova with 1,5, Azerbaijan with 1,9, Ukraine with 2,1, Latvia with 2,4, Poland with 2,6 and Albania with 2,8 percent.

Almost one third of the people who were in European prisons on January 31 last year were in custody. In Macedonia on this date, 12,3 percent of the persons placed in the KPU were in custody, which makes the country in fifth place according to the lowest rate of detainees. Only the Czech Republic had fewer people in custody with 7,5, Poland with 11,4, Lithuania with 11,2 and Romania with 12,1 percent of the total number of people deprived of liberty. The highest rate of detainees was in Albania at 55 percent, ahead of Armenia with 53, Luxembourg with 49, Switzerland with 46, the Netherlands with 45 and Montenegro with 42 percent.

In 2022, the average length of the sentence of prisoners in European prisons was 10,1 months, which is more than three times more than the average length of prison sentences in Macedonia, which is three months and ranks the country in second place among the countries with the shortest sentences, immediately behind Switzerland where they amounted to 2,1 months. Right behind the country with an average length of prison sentences of 3,7 months is Luxembourg, ahead of the Netherlands with 4,2 and Germany with 4,4 months.

Portugal had the highest average prison sentence of 30,2 months, ahead of Azerbaijan at 27,2, Ukraine at 26,1, Moldova at 25,3, Romania at 24, the Czech Republic at 22, Lithuania at 20,5, Spain ( excluding Catalonia) from 19,7, Estonia from 19,2, Greece from 18,4 and Armenia from 18 months.

The average suicide rate in European prisons in 2022 was 5,3 suicides per 10.000 prisoners. The highest suicide rate was registered in Latvia with 21,7, ahead of Switzerland with 20,2, France with 19,1, Scotland with 18,9, Catalonia with 16,8, Italy with 15, Belgium with 14,3, Luxembourg with 14,2 and Slovenia with 13,9 suicides per 10.000 prisoners.

The main reason for serving prison sentences in 45 prison administrations of the members of the Council of Europe was crimes related to narcotics. Thus, on January 31, 2023, 18,5 percent of prisoners were convicted of drug-related offenses, followed by convictions for murder or attempted murder with 12,8, for theft with 11,5, for robbery with 7,7, for physical assault with 6,7, for sexual offenses without rape with 4,6, for rape 4,3 and for economic or financial crime or traffic offenses three percent each.

Latvia has the highest rate of prisoners convicted of drug-related crimes at 42 percent, ahead of Azerbaijan with 42, Turkey with 34, Italy with 31, Belgium and Serbia with 29 each, Denmark with 27 and Sweden and Malta with 25 percent each.