HUMAN DEVELOPMENTAND
OVERCROWDING IN PRISONS
12INTRODUCTION
The relationship between Crime and Development is no longer questionable (See inter alia, N.
Masamba Sita, 2004, and UNODC, 2005). It is a double edged inverse relationship: Crime leading
to Underdevelopment and Development in some circumstances leading to Crime. Using tables todescribe the African situation, the presentation will be examining (1) the Human Development Index(HDI), an indicator that classiﬁes countries in: developed, developing and under-developed countries(Section 1); (2) the overcrowding in the selected African countries (Section 2); and (3) discusses therelationship between the countriesʼ Human Development indices and overcrowding in prisons (Section3).
The working hypothesis is that there is a negative correlation between the Human Development
index (HDI) and Overcrowding in respective countries. It is supposed that in countries with a Veryhigh or high Human Development, there is No overcrowding , while those with a Low HumanDevelopment index , face Overcrowding .
The concern of this workshop is overcrowding in prisons, a situation that undermines concerted
eﬀorts for human development in the African region. One of the objectives of the workshop is to lookat strategies, policies and means at our disposal to eﬀectively combat the phenomenon. The hypothesis
the presentation intends to address is: very high or high Human Development in African countries has
a positive impact on Overcrowding in Prisons. This helps to better understand the varied aspects ofdevelopment issues the development actors should take into consideration.
The paper substantiates, from some statistics at our disposal, the relationship between HumanDevelopment Indices (HDI) of countries and overcrowding in their prisons. In order to understandwhether there is association between the two variables, we shall use the Pearsonʼs coefficient ofcorrelation, where applicable and other non parametric test as the Spearmanʼs rho.

SECTION 1: THE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX (HDI)The Human Development Index is a comparative measure of life expectancy, literacy, educationand standards of living for countries worldwide (UNDP, Human Development Report, 2009). It helps
at the household level to measure the quality of life of populations and their accessibility to publicservices provided by the government. Our hypothesis is that life expectancy, literacy, education andstandards of living for populations depends on the category: very high, high, medium and low theircountries belong to. It is to be noted that the majority of the African countries listed as Poorest
Countries are countries with low Human Development (least developed countries) and some of them
are now in Medium Human Development category (developing countries).
The United Nations Development Programʼs Human Development Report lists countries in four
categories, according to their Human Development Index (HDI). The four (4) categories are thefollowing:
1
2

N. Masamba Sita is the Director of UNAFRI.
Edanyu George Wilson is a Retired Senior Assistant Commissioner of Prisons, Uganda, in charge of PrisonsInspection.

139

1.
2.
3.
4.

Very high human development (developed countries)
High human development (developing countries)
Medium human development (developing countries)
Low human development (least developed countries)

In each of the above categories, we focus on African countries. According to the list, there is noAfrican country with very high human development. We consider that countries with low income aremainly those under the fourth category, i.e. countries with low human development index. Therefore,
the presentation examines only the high, medium and low human development indices.

1.1 AFRICAN COUNTRIES WITH HIGH HDI

Only the following three (3) African countries figure in this category: Libya, Seychelles andMauritius. Their rank, human development index and changes realized are indicated on table 1 below.
Table 1: African Countries with High Human Development Index
NORANK

COUNTRYHUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX(HDI)
2007 DATACHANGE COMPARED TO 2006 DATA

155

LIBYA

0.8470.005

257

SAYCHELLES

0.845

0.004

381

MAURITIUS

0.804

0.003

1.2 AFRICAN COUNTRIES WITH MEDIUM HDI

The indices of the 26 African countries listed under this category vary from 0.511 to 0.769.

Table 2: African Countries with Medium Human Development Index
NORANK

COUNTRYHUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX(HDI)
2007 DATACHANGE COMPARED TO2006 DATA198

TUNISIA

0.769

0.006

2103

GABON

0.755

0.005

3104

ALGERIA

0.754

0.005

4118

EQUATORIA GUINEA

0.719

0.007

5121

CAPE VERDE

0.708

0.004

6123

EGYPT

0.7030.003

7125

BOTSWANA

0.694

0.011

8128

NAMIBIA

0.686

0.008

9129

SOUTH AFRICA

0.683

0.003

10130

MOROCCO

0.654

0.006

11131

SAO TOME AND
PRINCIPE

0.651

0.006

12136

REPUBLIQUE OF
CONGO

0.601

0.002

13139

COMOROS

0.576

0.003

14142

SWAZILAND

0.572

0.003

15143

ANGOLA

0.564

0.012

16145

MADAGASCAR

0.543

0.006

17147

KENYA

0.541

0.006

18150

SUDAN

0.531

0.005

19151

TANZANIA

0.530

0.011

20152

GHANA

0.526

0.008

21153

CAMEROON

0.523

0.004

22154

MAURITANIA

0.520

0.001

14023155

DJIBOUTI

0.520

0.003

24156

LESOTHO

0.514

0.003

25157

UGANDA

0.514

0.009

26158

NIGERIA

0.511

0.005

1.3 AFRICAN COUNTRIES WITH LOW HDI

In this category, the indices of 22 countries vary from 0.340 to 0.499.

Table 3: African Countries with Low Human Development Index
NO

RANK

COUNTRYHUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX(HDI)
2007 DATACHANGE COMPARED TO2006 DATA

1159

TOGO

0.499

0.001

2160

MALAWI

0.493

0.009

3161

BENIN

0.492

0.005

4163

COTE DʼIVOIRE

0.484

0.002

5164

ZAMBIA0.481

0.008

6165

ERITREA

0.472

0.005

7166

SENEGAL

0.464

0.002

8167

RWANDA

0.460

0.005

9168

GAMBIA

0.456

0.003

10169

LIBERIA

0.442

0.008

11170

GUINEA

0.435

0.002

12171

ETHIOPIA

0.414

0.012

13172

MOZAMBIQUE

0.402

0.005

14173

GUINEA-BISSAU

0.396

0.005

15174

BURUNDI

0.394

0.007

16175

CHAD

0.392

0.001

17176

DEMOCRATIQUE
REPUBLIC OF THE
CONGO

0.389

0.018

18177

BURKINA FASO

0.389

0.005

19178

MALI

0.371

0.005

20179

CENTRAL AFRICAN
0.369
REPUBLIC

0.002

21180

SIERRA LEONE

0.365

0.008

22182

NIGER

0.340

0.005

SECTION 2: OVERCROWDING
Under this section we look at overcrowding of prisons in the countries above. It is worth notingthat overcrowding in Africa, according to the available statistics (See ICPS Report 2007; see also PRI,2005), is a consequence of long illegal detentions (long periods awaiting results of appeal, of trial, nonimplementation of related legal provisions, undue delay in commencement of trial). Hereafter are somestatistics provided by International Centre for Prison Studies (ICPS) on:(1) Prison Population total (including pre-trial detainees / remand prisoners);(2) Prison Population Rate (per 100,000 of national population);(3) Pre-trial / Remand Prisoners (percentage of prison population);(4) Female Prisoners (percentage of prison population);(5) Foreign Prisoners (percentage of prison population);(6) Oﬃcial Capacity of Prison System;

141

(7) Occupancy level (based on oﬃcial capacity); and(8) Recent Prison Population trend (year, prison population total, prison population rate).

2.1 OVERCROWDING IN COUNTRIES WITH HIGH HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX:

Only three African countries ﬁgure in this category: Libya, Seychelles and Mauritius. Their proﬁlein terms of overcrowding is as follows:

PRISON
POPULATIONTOTAL (PPT)PRISON
POPULATIONRATE PER 100,000(PPR) 3

PRE-TRIAL
DETAINEES/REMAND % (PD/R)

FOREIGN
PRISONERS (FP)OFFICIAL
CAPACITY (OC)OCCUPANCYLEVEL (OL)TRENDS 2004
2007, TOTALPOPULATIONANDRATES PER
100,0001

COUNTRYNO

LIBYA

12,905

200

47,7%

29,1%

9,000

141,6%

2004
9,763 (173)2007
13,217 (217)2

SEYCHELLES 305

371

63.0%

4.1%

400

76.3%

2003
149 (186)
2007
221 (270)

3

MAURITIUS

166

29.9%

4.6%

2,058

104.0%

2001
1,985 (165)2005
2,464 (205)2,163

OVERCROWDING

Table 4: Overcrowding in Countries with high HDI

3,905(30.3%)

105(4.9%)

Overcrowding in prisons is measured by:(1) The diﬀerence between the Prison Population Total (PPT) and the Oﬃcial Capacity (OC) of theprison system; and(2) The occupancy level (OL).
Table 4 reveals that there is no overcrowding in Seychelles, very low rate in Mauritius and low in
Libya, percentages that seem to represent foreign prisoners.

2.2 OVERCROWDING IN COUNTRIES WITH MEDIUM HUMAN DEVELOPMENTINDEX

Table 5 indicates variations among the 16 affected countries. The overcrowding ranges from
7.0% to 60.8%. Countries without figures under the overcrowding column are countries without
overcrowding according to the available statistics.
Table 5: Overcrowding in Countries with Medium HDI

COUNTRYPRISON
POPULATIONTOTAL (PPT)

PRE-TRIAL
DETAINEES/REMANDS %(PD/R)

FOREIGN
PRISONERS (FP)OFFICIAL
CAPACITY (OC)OCCUPANCYLEVEL (OL)TRENDS 2004
2007, TOTALPOPULATION
AND RATES PER
100,000

OVERCROWDINGNO

1

ALGERIA

54,00011.3

1.0%

31,500171.8%

2003
38,868 (121)2005
43,797 (132)

22,500(41.7%)

2

BOTSWANA

5,216

17.0

22.6%

3,967

131.5%

2004
6,105 (339)

1,249(23.9%)

142

2006
5,969 (332)3

NAMIBIA

4,064

7.9

5.5%

4,347

93.5%

1997
4,071 (250)2000(4,779 (273)4

SOUTH AFRICA

161,320

31.2

5.1%

115,297139.9%

2005
156,175 (333)2008
163,719 (343)

46,023(28.5%)

5

MOROCCO

53,58046.52.2%

27,113

197.6%

2002
54,288 (191)2003
54,542 (177)

26,467(49.4%)

6

SAO TOME AND
PRINCIPE

160c.34.0

0.8%

300

43.3%

2002
130 (79)2005
155 (82)

7

SWAZILAND

2,628

27.5

6.0%

2,838

92.6%

2003
3,169 (288)2006
2,734 (249)8

ANGOLAC.8,300

58.9

.

6,000

82.9%

1999
4,884 (39)2002
4,975 (37)2,300(27.7%)

9

MADAGASCAR

17,70347.9

0.1%

10,199173.6%

2004
19,971 (112)2006
17,495 (90)7,504(42.4%)

10

KENYA

46,66243.3

0.7%

20,892223.3%

2001
35,340 (117)2005
50,000 (144)

25,770(55.2%)

11SUDAN19,14410.0

c.1%

7,500.

1997
12,933
2002
12,80911,644(60.8%)

12

TANZANIA

40,11148.5

3.7%

27,653145.1%

2006
43,911 (113)2008
41,613 (97)12,458(31.1%)

13

GHANA

13,377

28.6

4.5%

7,875

169.9%

2004
11,581 (54)2007
13,336 (58)5,502(41.1%)

14

LESOTHO

2,701

16.8

1.0%

2,936

92.0%

2001
2,699 (145)2004
3,173 (170)15

UGANDA

29,82656.0

0.8%

13,373223.0%

2005
26,126 (95)2008
25,464 (80)16

NIGERIA

41,405

69.3.

47,81584.1%

2005
40,444 (30)2008
40,240 (27)16,453(55.2%)

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2.3 OVERCROWDING IN COUNTRIES WITH LOW HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX

23456PRISONPOPULATIONTOTAL (PPT)PRISON
POPULATIONRATE PER
100,000 (PPR) 3

PRE-TRIAL
DETAINEES/REMAND %(PD/R)FOREIGN
PRISONERS (FP)OFFICIAL
CAPACITY (OC)OCCUPANCYLEVEL (OL)TRENDS 2004
2007, TOTALPOPULATIONANDRATES PER
100,0001COUNTRYNO

MALAWI

11,996

78

18.5%

1.0%

6.070

197.6%

2005
9,656 (74)2007
10,830 (78)

BENIN

6,083

COTE
DʼIVOIRE11,143

ZAMBIA

15,544

SENEGAL

RWANDA

6,425

59,311

66

56120

53593

79.6%

28,5%

35.3%

37.2%

26.9%

1,900

c.30%

2.1%

7.5%

0.3%

4,871

7,500

2,972

46,700307.1%

218.0%

207.3%

152.0%

202.4%

7

GAMBIA

450

32

18.5%

66.7%

780

65.0%

8

LIBERIA

1,600

40

97.3%

2.0%

750

136.3%

9

BURUNDI

10,700

129

68.0%

.

4,050

264.2%

10111213144

BURKINA
FASO

4,207

MALI

6,700

SIERRA
LEONE

2,328

NIGER

5,709

2752

41

46

58.3%

88.7%

49.2%

c.76%.

.

1.7%.

26603,000

1,975

8,840

158.2%

223.3%

108.1%

64.6%

OVERCROWDING

Table 6: Prison Overcrowding in African Countries with Low HDI

5,926.0(49.4%)

2000
4,961 (81)2006
5,834 (75)4,183.0(68.8%)

1998
13,670 (95)2002
10,356 (62)6,272.0(56.3%)

2003
13,200 (122)2005
14,347 (122)8,404(54.1%)

2000
4,990 (52)2002
5,360 (54)3,453(53.7%)

2004
87,000 (129)2006
82,000 (172)12,611(21.3%)

1999
478 (38)850(53.1%)
2005
7,969 (106)2008
9,114 (104)2002
2,800 (23)6,650(62.1%)

1,547(36.8%)

2002
4,040 (34)2004
4,407 (33)3,700(55.2%)

2004
c.1,400 (c.27)
2007
1,899 (33)353(15.3%)

1998
5,263 (52)2002
c.6000 (c.52)

Compared to other countries under this category, Rwanda seems to have a very high Prison
Population Total (PPT): 53,311, a high Prison Population Rate (593) and Oﬃcial Capacity (OC): 46,700.

SECTION 3: HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX AND OVERCROWDINGThe analysis of data led us to consider human development as an Independent variable andOvercrowding the dependent variable. In other words Low Human Development appears to bea suitable explanation of Overcrowding in prisons in Africa. A concept such as poverty helps
to understand how populationsʼ Low Income affects the quality of their lives. This results inOvercrowding in prisons.

3.1 High HDI and Overcrowding:
Table 7: African Countries with High HDI and Overcrowding
NO

COUNTRYHDILEVEL OF OVERCROWDING (LO)P R I S O N P O P U L A T I O N T O T A L OCCUPANCE LEVEL (OL)
(PPT) MINUS OFFICIAL CAPACITY(OC)

1LIBYA

0.847

3,905 (30.5% of total prisonpopulation)

141.6%

2SEYCHELLES

0.845

- 95

76.3%

3MAURITIUS

0.804

105(4.9%)

104%

The Levels of Overcrowding (LO) that is calculated from the PPT minus OC and translated intopercentage for Libya and Mauritius reveals almost an equivalent percentage of their respective foreign
Prisoners (FP): 29.1% (30.5%) and 4.6% (4.9). Seychelles escapes from the observed trend: 4.1% (Seeabove Table 4). Even the level of occupancy would have been much lower without foreign prisoners;
hence, conﬁrming no overcrowding in Seychelles. Graph 1 hereafter still supports our hypothesis.

1453.2 Medium HDI and Overcrowding:Countries without overcrowding (Lesotho, Nigeria, Sao Tome and Principe, Swaziland), or withvery low rate (Namibia) do not appear in Table 8, because this aﬀects the calculation of the correlation
between HDI and Overcrowding.
Table 8: Countries with Medium HDI and Overcrowding
NO

COUNTRYHDILEVEL OF OVERCROWDINGPRISON POPULATION TOTAL (PPT) OCCUPANCE LEVEL (OL)
MINUS OFFICIAL CAPACITY (OC)1

ALGERIA

0.754

22,500 (41.7%)

171.8%

2

BOTSWANA

0.694

1,249 (23.9%)

131.5%

3

SOUTH AFRICA

0.683

46,023 (28.5%)

139.9%

4MOROCCO

0.654

26,467 (49.4%)

197.6%

5ANGOLA

0.564

2,300 (27.7%)

82.9%

6MADAGASCAR

0.543

7,504 (42.4%)

173.6%

7KENYA

0.541

25,770 (55.2%)

223.3%

8SUDAN

0.531

11644 (60.8%).

9

TANZANIA

0.530

12,458 (31.1%)

145.1%

10 GHANA

0.526

5502 (41.1%)

169.9%

11 UGANDA

0.514

16,453 (55.2%)

223.0%

Graph 2 hereafter also visualizes the a tendency for the high values of the HDI to be paired withsmaller values of Overcrowding, and vice versa

3.3 Low HDI and Overcrowding:

Table 9 is part of table 6 which has 13 countries. We have selected only 8 countries having
the needed statistics. Table 9 does not include countries with very low overcrowding (Burkina
Faso, Rwanda and Sierra Leone), as they affect our inquiry into the relationship between HDI

146

and Overcrowding. It is interesting to note that countries with low HDI are also exhibiting a low
overcrowding. Cases in point are: Sierra Leone with a HDI of 0.365 with an overcrowding of 15.2%and Burkina Faso with a HDI of 0.389 and Overcrowding of 36.8%, and Rwanda with a HDI 0.460 andan Overcrowding of 21.3%.
Table 9: Countries with Low HDI and Overcrowding
No

COUNTRY

12345678

MALAWI
BENIN
COTE D’ IVOIREZAMBIASENEGAL
LIBERIA
BURUNDI
MALI

HDI

0.493
0.492
0.484
0.481
0.464
0.442
0.394
0.371

LEVEL OF OVERCROWDINGPRISON POPULATION TOTAL (PPT) OCCUPANCE LEVEL (OL)
MINUS OFFICIAL CAPACITY (OC)5,926 (49.4%)
197.6%
4,183 (68.8%)
307.1%
6,272 (56.3%)
218.0%
8,044 (51.7%)
207.3%
3,453 (53.7%)
152.0%
850 (53.1%)
136.3%
6,650 (62.1%)
264.2%
3,700 (55.2%)
223.3%

Graph 3 hereafter visualizes the trend. A calculated rho of - 0.19 led us to conclude that there is arelationship between Human Development Indices and Overcrowding in correctional institutions, asvisualized hereafter in Graph 3.

CONCLUSION
The main working hypothesis was that where there is very high or high Human Development,
there is no or very low Overcrowding. In the case of Libya and Mauritius, their respective observedovercrowding of 30.3% and 4.9% (See Table 4) seems to be induced by the presence of foreignnationals. Concerning Seychelles in the same table, data seems to confirm the hypothesis. What they
have in common is: absence of or very low overcrowding (Seychelles and Mauritius (4.9%)). We
encountered discrepancies in the case of Libya that we are not able to explain (Table 4).

147

In case of countries that fall under Medium Human Development index (See Tables 7), Pearsonʼ
s Product Moment Correlation Coefficient reveals a high degree of association between the HumanDevelopment Indices and Overcrowding. The correlation coefficient was found to be negative r =- 0.75. This also means that 56.0% of variations in overcrowding are explained by variations in theHuman Development Indices. This confirms that there is a strong relationship between the HDIand Overcrowding. In this case, there is a tendency for the high values of the HDI to be paired withsmaller values of Overcrowding, and vice versa. We will only say that 72.7% of these countries have ahigh overcrowding (only 3 countries have a rate of overcrowding below 50%).
As for the Low Human Development Index countries, we consider that our hypothesis stands. We
used a non parametric test: Spearmanʼs rho to establish whether there is a correlation between low
HDI and Overcrowding. A calculated rho of - 0.19 led us to conclude that there is a relationship. Thisconclusion was drawn from one tailed test for negative correlation where the null Hypothesis (Ho): theHDI and Overcrowding are not correlated, against an alternative hypothesis: there is a tendency forthe large values of HDI to be paired with small values of Overcrowding and vice versa. Null hypothesis
was rejected as the calculated rho of - 0.19 was too small. We observe that 87.5% of these countries
have an overcrowding rate beyond 50%, which we consider as a very high rate.
The analysis of the data at our disposal has substantiated the association between Human
Development and Overcrowding. However, we did observe that there were countries (Burkina Faso,
Rwanda and Sierra Leone), which were exceptional to our conﬁrmed hypothesis: very high or high
HDI being paired with low Overcrowding . Although the three countries had low HDI, they also had
low Overcrowding.
This is significant to us as this variation may help to identify and understand the factors (goodpractices) if any, that have led to the observed variation in the above countries. A negative relationshiphas been observed in the three categories: 1) countries with High Human Development Index; 2)
countries with medium Human Development Index; and 3) countries with low Human Development
Index, meaning that in countries with high Human Development Index (HDI), there is no or verylow rate of overcrowding and vice versa. The exceptional countries, deviating from the hypothesis,suggest a need to look at good practices in countries, which may explain the observed situation: low
rate of overcrowding in countries with low Human Development Indices; and others practices leading
to the situation of (low) overcrowding in countries with high or medium Human Development Indices.

148