England and Wales have the biggest prison populations in western Europe, according to official figures released this week.
In addition, figures out yesterday show 10.2 per cent of prisoners in England and Wales are serving life sentences, more than double the European average.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The overall prison population fell by just 0.8 per cent in 2014-15.
However, these figures are still far below those of eastern Europe, where there are 439 per 100,000 people in prison in Russia, followed by Lithuania (277), Georgia (274), Azerbaijan (249), Latvia (223), Turkey (220) and Moldova (219).
Overall, the prison population in the 45 countries that took part in the survey stood at 1.4 million in 2015, with drug offences remaining the most common crime across Europe.
Drug offenders form 18.7 per cent of the total prison population, with people serving sentences for homicide representing 13.2 per cent, reports The Times.
The figures were released as another prison inspection report found further evidence of violence and poor conditions in UK prisons.
The chief inspector of prisons said inmates in Swinfen Hall jail, in Staffordshire, were held in cells where the windows had been missing glass for around two years.
-
Taps could run dry in drought-stricken TehranUnder the Radar President warns that unless rationing eases water crisis, citizens may have to evacuate the capital
-
Alaska faces earth-shaking loss as seismic monitoring stations shutterIN THE SPOTLIGHT NOAA cuts have left the western seaboard without a crucial resource to measure, understand and predict tsunamis
-
10 great advent calendars for everyone (including the dog)The Week Recommends Countdown with cocktails, jams and Legos
-
What we know about the Copenhagen mall shootingSpeed Read Lone gunman had mental health issues and not thought to have terror motive, police say
-
Texas school shooting: parents turn anger on policeSpeed Read Officers had to be urged to enter building where gunman killed 21 people
-
DJ Tim Westwood denies multiple sexual misconduct allegationsSpeed Read At least seven women accuse the radio and TV presenter of predatory behaviour dating back three decades
-
What happened to Katie Kenyon?Speed Read Man charged as police search for missing 33-year-old last seen getting into van
-
Brooklyn subway shooting: exploring New York’s ‘steep decline in law and order’Speed Read Last week, a gunman set off smoke bombs and opened fire on a rush-hour train in the city
-
How the Capitol attack investigation is splitting the RepublicansSpeed Read Vote to censure two Republican representatives has revealed deep divisions within party
-
Is sentencing a Nazi sympathiser to read Shakespeare an appropriate punishment?Speed Read Judge seemed to think introducing student ‘to high culture’ would ‘magically make him a better person’ said The Daily Telegraph
-
Sarah Everard’s murder: a national reckoning?Speed Read Wayne Couzen’s guilty plea doesn’t ‘tidy away the reality of sexual violence’
