10-year trends in European prisons: what does new CoE report say on Georgia?

The Council of Europe (CoE) has released a report about the 10-year trend in European prisons, which provides the findings about Georgian prisons between 2005 and 2015.

The report reads that comparing 2014/15 to 2005, the following indicators show a decrease:

• Rate of entries into penal institutions (-54%).
• Rate of releases from penal institutions (-16%).
•  Prison density (-56%).
• Percentage of female inmates (-52%).
• Percentage of non-sentenced inmates (-77%).
•  Rate of deaths per 10,000 inmates (-53%), ratio of inmates per staff (-19%).
• Percentage of custodial staff in the total staff (-17%).

Comparing 2014/15 to 2005, the following indicators show an increase:

• Prison population rate (+37%).
• Average length of detention based on stock and flow (+145%).
• Percentage of foreign inmates (+245%).
• Percentage of pre-trial detainees among foreign inmates (+10’245%).
• Percentage of suicides (+19%).

 Comparing 2014/15 to 2005, the following indicators remain stable:

Total budget spent by the prison administration (-2%).

Compared to other European countries, in 2014/15 Georgia presents:

•  Low: Prison density, percentage of female inmates, percentage of foreign inmates, percentage of non-sentenced inmates, percentage of suicides in pre-trial detention, percentage of custodial staff in the total staff, average amount spent per day for the detention of one inmate.
•   Medium: Rate of entries into penal institutions, rate of releases from penal institutions, median age, percentage of pre-trial detainees among foreign inmates, rate of deaths per 10,000 inmates.
• High: Prison population rate, average length of imprisonment based on stock and flow, ratio of inmates per staff.

The report has been prepared by the University of Lausanne and co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe.