Average cost per prisoner in Azerbaijan - 7.9 euros, in Norway - 300 euros

Baku/08.04.21/Turan: Despite the decrease in the number of prisoners in Azerbaijan in recent years, the country is still in the group of leaders in this indicator among the countries of the Council of Europe.

As of January 31, 2020,  21,021 inmates in the penitentiary institutions of Azerbaijan, which is less than in 2019 (21,926) and 2018 (23,319).

If, in Europe as a whole, as of January 31, 2020, there were 103.2 prisoners for every 100,000 inhabitants, in Turkey this figure was 357, in Russia - 356, in Georgia - 264, in Lithuania - 220, in Azerbaijan – 209, according to the report "Prisons and prisoners in Europe - 2020" released today by the Council of Europe. In terms of overcrowding in prisons in Azerbaijan, the indicator is lower than the European average. Thus, the average prison density in Europe in 2020 was 90.3 prisoners for every 100 places in prisons.

In Azerbaijan, with a total capacity of places in penitentiary institutions of 25,501, the density of prisoners for every 100 places was 82.4%. This is below the European average (90.3) and Azerbaijan's indicator for 2019 (86%).

In the CE countries, 87,367 women were held in prisons, an average of 4.9% of the total prison population. At the same time, Azerbaijan is among the five countries with the lowest proportion of female prisoners (570 women or 2.7% of the total number of prisoners).

As for minors, there were 57 juvenile men and 1 underage woman in Azerbaijani prisons. At the same time, in Azerbaijan, young children are allowed to stay with their mothers in penitentiary institutions for up to 3 years.

In general, in Europe as of January 31, 2020 - 15.4% of prisoners were foreigners. In Azerbaijan, this figure was 2.4%. At the same time, Azerbaijan turned out to be the leader among the countries with the longest average prison term. This period was 32.9 months, in Portugal - 30.2 months, in Russia - 29 months.

10.7% of prisoners in Azerbaijan served sentences of 1 to 3 years, the majority (47.3%) from 3 to 5 years, 27.1% - from 5 to 10 years, 13.2% - from 10 to 20 years ... 1.6% of those convicted were sentenced to life imprisonment.

The average death rate in European prisons was 27.2 cases per 10,000 inmates in 2019.

Prison administrations in countries with populations of over 500,000 with the highest suicide rates were - Malta (25.2 per 10,000 prisoners), Armenia (22.5), Denmark (21.7), Norway (19), France (17) and Estonia (16.3).

In 2019, 93 people died in penitentiary institutions of Azerbaijan (two suicides). This brings the death rate per 10,000 prisoners in 2019 to 44.3, well above the European average.

The average amount spent per prisoner per day in 2019 across the CE countries was 64.4 euros, which is less than in 2018 (68.3 euros) and 2017. (66.5 euros). This figure ranged from the lowest in the Russian Federation (€ 2.8 per prisoner per day) to around € 300 in Sweden and Norway.

In Azerbaijan, the total budget of the prison administration in 2019 was 55,091,752 euros. The average amount spent per prisoner per day was € 7.9. — 06D-