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The Global Prison Trends 2024 report is the 10th edition in this flagship series, offering a detailed overview of the major developments and challenges in prison systems around the world. Published in collaboration with the Thailand Institute of Justice, this edition sheds light on key issues such as prison overcrowding, the mental health crisis in prisons, corruption, and the growing use of digital technologies. It also highlights the significant disparities in prison labour, including variations in access, pay and working conditions
Between 2000 and 2022, the average number of people held in pre-trial detention, presumed innocent, stood at 29.5% of the total prison population, totaling about 3.39 million people. Although Goal 16 of the Sustainable Development Agenda promotes the reduction in unsentenced detainees as a target, the global proportion of pre-trial detainees (at about 30%) has remained consistent for decades.
The number of men in pre-trial detention globally has predominantly risen over the past two decades, averaging between 29.5% and 31% of the total prison population from 2000 to 2022. Conversely, global trends reveal a gradual decline in the percentage of women in pre-trial detention, averaging around 28%.
Analysis by region reveals that, in all regions, efforts to reduce pre-trial detention rates have not borne fruitful results. There is also increasing evidence that the use of pre-trial detention is discriminatory, primarily affecting marginalised and vulnerable groups. In Australia, the Victorian Government’s bail reforms over the past decade have significantly increased the number of Aboriginal people on remand in prisons and youth detention centres. A report showed that, from 2009 to 2019, the number of Aboriginal men on remand rose by 598%, and Aboriginal women by 475%. Another study reported that this surge is driven by criminal justice policies that place disadvantaged women – who lack necessary health and social services for trauma, dependence and poverty – into the prison system, with two-thirds of those on remand being released without receiving a custodial sentence. Disproportionate numbers of Indigenous women are in pre-trial detention in New Zealand and Australia.
In Africa, at least 20 countries detain more than 50% of people in prison on remand, many for poverty-related petty offences. In the US, almost half a million people are currently held in pre-trial detention, the vast majority because they cannot afford bail or because legislation means they are ineligible for release. Recent data shows that pre-trial detention disproportionately affects groups in vulnerable contexts: whereas 32% of those on remand have annual incomes below $10,000, the median bail for felony charges is roughly the same amount. Black people constitute 43% of the pre-trial population and are jailed at more than three times the rate of white people. Additionally, 40% of those in jail have chronic health conditions, 45% have mental illnesses, 18% lack health insurance, and many have experienced homelessness. Furthermore, 15% of people in pre-trial detention in 2023 identified as LGBTQ+ people.
Conditions in pre-trial detention facilities are often poor and present major human rights concerns.
For example, in Paraguay, the understaffed and overcrowded prisons have deteriorated conditions and increased violence, reportedly pushing people in pre-trial detention to join criminal gangs and commit offences while on remand, as they are housed with people convicted of a crime. The slow judicial processing has aggravated prison overcrowding rates, coinciding with a 10% rise in robberies reported in early 2023. In South Sudan, the UN has reiterated that significant case backlogs have led to extensive pre-trial detention, overcrowded prisons, poor sanitation and inadequate infrastructure, highlighting urgent needs for court reforms to uphold fair trial rights.
The length of pre-trial detention has attracted criticism by the UN Committee against Torture with regard to practices in Denmark, for instance, where 40% of the prison population are on remand, and the average duration is five months. The Committee reiterated recommendations made by others around maximum limits on detention periods echoing those made in a recent recommendation from the European Commission in 2022. In Mexico, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has observed that one in two people in pre-trial detention faced mandatory imprisonment, with many enduring prolonged stays, at times exceeding five years, as mandatory pre-trial detention was expanded to include a broader range of vaguely defined criminal categories.
By the end of 2024, more than 80 countries (more than half the world’s population) will vote in elections, and some attention has been given to the unique status of people in prison, including pre-trial detention and their right to vote. As of July 2023, ahead of the 2024 European Parliament elections, 11 out of 27 EU Member States allow all people in prison to vote without restrictions. Fourteen Member States impose restrictions based on the length of the sentence or the nature of the offence, while two Member States (Bulgaria and Estonia) do not allow people in prison to vote at all. People in prison with the right to vote can do so through various methods, including postal voting, proxy voting and special prison polling stations. Additionally, in some states like Luxembourg, voting rights are not automatically reinstated upon release. In Mexico, for the first time, people detained on remand (unsentenced) were allowed to vote in the presidential election, with about 31,000 eligible people voting in 282 prisons across the country.
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