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Europe is the only continent where the total number of prisoners has decreased since 2000. However, the extent of this reduction has largely depended on data from the Russian Federation.
The number of prisoners in Russia is undoubtedly the highest in Europe, and it has fallen by 59%. Excluding the Russian Federation, the number of prisoners in Europe has increased by 12% since 2000.
However, it can be said with certainty that the decrease in the number of prisoners in Russia is not the result of judicial practice or the humanisation of the penal practices.
The reduction in the Russian prison population is the result of mercenary recruitment and mass mobilisation of prisoners (usually by force) to fight in the War against Ukraine as part of the Russian regime’s criminal imperial policy (the ‘Wagner phenomenon’).
The publication of official police crime statistics in Russia has been banned since 1 January 2023. However, based on official police statistics up to and including December 2022 and selected information in the media, there is a clear trend towards a significant ‘emptying’ of Russian prisons during the War, which is unlikely to be the result of judicial practice. Instead, it is the result of the mass mobilisation of prisoners for the War against Ukraine.
| Russia – Incarceration rate | |
| 2000 | 729 |
| 2002 | 675 |
| 2004 | 588 |
| 2006 | 577 |
| 2008 | 622 |
| 2010 | 609 |
| 2012 | 528 |
| 2014 | 471 |
| 2016 | 448 |
| 2018 | 416 |
| 2020 | 363 |
| 2022 | 322 |
| 2023 | 300 |
| 2024 | 256 |
| 2025 | 214 |
Back in December 2022, US National Security Council spokesman said that the number of Wagner PMC fighters in Ukraine could reach 50,000, including about 40,000 former prisoners.
In June 2024, the BBC, studying the ID numbers of deceased Russian prisoners, found that the Wagner PMC had recruited at least 48,366 people from prisons.
Thus, the decline in the prison population in Russia is a completely artificial trend that has nothing to do with the prison policy of a democratic state. The mass release of prisoners, based on forced mobilisation and mercenary recruitment, is a bloody policy that further reflects the imperial nature of the Russian state.
