PRISON OVERCROWDING- Finding Eﬀective Solutions. Strategies and Best Practices Against Overcrowding
in Correctional Facilities -1. Introduction: General remarks
Prison overcrowding is a serious problem indeed; moreover it is an elusive phenomenon althoughnational and international actors have dealt with it for decades 1 . Overcrowding seems even to
represent a characteristic troubling the modern prison since its invention in the 19th century2. The
ongoing debates in California on how to resolve prison overcrowding demonstrate the problems prison
systems face when prisons are seriously overcrowded and the problems politicians face when looking
for a rapid way out of prison overcrowding3 under the double pressure of court orders and a severe
ﬁscal crisis. And it is certainly also fair to say that it is in general much easier to produce overcrowded
prisons than developing and implementing eﬀective ways to reduce prison populations. The debates
demonstrate, however, also, that the problem of prison overcrowding is located at an intersection
where several important policy and crime research related topics converge. These topics concern
criminal sentencing, the role of prison sentences and imprisonment in the system of criminal sanctions,the standards adopted when it comes to accommodating prisoners and providing adequate healthcare and rehabilitative services, the development of crime, in particular crime which attracts prison
sentences, the budget provided for prisons and prison construction as well as economic restraints andfinally general criminal policy determining the course of criminal law and punishment in a society.
Overcrowding somehow is associated with all of these issues, although it is not clear how these issues
interact and under what conditions they become effective in turning the course of the growth or
decline in prison populations. The cross-sectional nature of prison overcrowding is challenging becauseof the complexity coming with it4.
On the one hand overcrowding sometimes seems to emerge as a problem which remained hidden forlong time until it all of sudden puts policy makers under pressure, be it as a consequence of activities
1

2
3
4
5

See for example United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for Non-Custodial Measures (The Tokyo Rules) A/
RES/45/110, 14 December 1990; Prison Overcrowding Project: Etiology of Prison Populations - Implications
for Prison Population Projection Methodology. National Institute of Corrections, United States 1984; National
Institute of Corrections: Our Crowded Prisons. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social
Science. Vol. 478, Beverly Hills 1985; United Nations Economic and Social Council: International cooperation
aimed at the reduction of prison overcrowding and the promotion of alternative sentencing. Resolution 1998/23,
44th plenary meeting, 28 July 1998.
Mullen, J.: Prison Crowding and the Evolution of Public Policy. National Institute of Corrections: Our Crowded
Prisons. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. Vol. 478, Beverly Hills 1985, pp.
31-46, p. 31.
Governor of the State of California: Prison Overcrowding State of Emergency Proclamation. Office of theGovernor, 10/04/2006.
See United Nations Economic and Social Council: Reform of the Criminal Justice System: Achieving Eﬀectivenessand Equality. Use and Application of United Nations Standards and Norms, Especially Concerning Juvenile Justiceand Penal Reform. Report of the Secretary-General, 2002.
See for example Amnesty International: Amnesty International's Concerns in Serbia, including Kosovo:
January-June 2009. www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/EUR70/016/2009/en/f2e02aae-bf9a-4989-9d3d3545d077e604/eur700162009en.pdf, p. 4; CPT: Report to the Government of the United Kingdom on the visit
to the United Kingdom carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or
Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 18 November to 1 December 2008. Strasbourg 2009, pp. 20-21;
European Court of Human Rights, Judgment as of 22 October 2009 in the cases Orchowski v. Poland (application65

of human rights watchdogs or court decisions which ﬁnd serious violations of constitutional rights5.
On the other hand, rapid declines of the prison population seem to come often also as a surprise forcriminal justice administrators. The patterns of turning points in the course of prison populations
reﬂect to a certain extent the degree of stability of criminal justice policies and criminal sentencing andthe extent of their insulation from outside pressures.
Policies aimed at reducing prison overcrowding are faced with problems of how to introduce andto explain changes in sentencing practices or parole decision-making to a public which demands
increasingly for more security and often equates security with long prison sentences, incapacitation
and restrictive parole6. Many countries are exposed to economic and ﬁnancial hardships which bringwith it conflict-laden choices on where to direct scarce resources. Furthermore, policy makers
have to respect separation of power principles and thus are subject to normative constraints which
contribute to problems of eﬀective planning, close coordination and rapid adjustments of the use ofprison sentences and the ﬂow of prisoners7. The subsystems of criminal justice are independent fromeach other, the operations of subsystems like criminal courts in terms of sentencing decisions do notconsider the possible impact such decisions will have on the prison system8. Despite such problems
overcrowded prisons have stimulated attempts to develop instruments which provide projections orforecasts of the course prison populations will take in order to be able to make sound decisions onwhether to provide for more prison capacity or to close prisons9. But, projections of prison populations
are faced with well known problems of predicting the future, point to uncertainty and ultimately also
to self-fulfilling prophecies. Prison projections have been developed as a basis for policy making inparticular in the United Kingdom10, in the United States11, Canada12, Australia13 and New Zealand14.
Prison projection methodology, however, has not received much attention in other parts of the world.
Prison overcrowding can come as the result of a slow, steady and long term increase in the numberof prisoners, developing into a culture of chronic overcrowding 15; it can come also in a rapid move
upwards for example in the wake of collective violence and as a consequence of detaining scores of

6
7
8
9
10
11

12
13
14
15
16

66

no. 17885/04) and Norbert Sikorski v. Poland (no. 17599/05) holding that the conditions under which theapplicants are detained establish a breach of Art. 3 of the ECHR and that where prison overcrowding reached acertain level, the lack of space in a prison could constitute the central factor to be taken into consideration under
Article 3; see also the judgment as of 26 May 2008 of the Polish Constitutional Court: the serious and chronic
nature of prison overcrowding in Poland can in itself be qualiﬁed as inhuman and degrading treatment; Article 248of the Polish Code of Execution of Criminal Sentences (which allows for departing from the minimum space of 3 m2
per prisoner) was incompatible with Article 40 (prohibiting inhuman and degrading treatment) of the Constitution.
See for example CAT: Summary record of the 622nd meeting: Argentina. 22/11/2004. CAT/C/SR. 622, No. 22.
Kaufman, G.: The National Prison Overcrowding Project: Policy Analysis and Politics, a New Approach The
ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 1985; 478, pp. 161-172.
Albrecht, H.-J.: Particular Diﬃculties in Enforcing the Law arising out of basic Conﬂicts Between the Diﬀerent
Agencies Regarding the Best Suited Reactions upon Highly Sensitive Kinds of Crime. In: Council of Europe (Ed.):Interactions within the Criminal Justice System. Strasbourg 1988, pp. 41-82.
Miller, D.: Prison population projections. A review of methods used by state correctional agencies. Illinois Dept.
of Corrections, Bureau of Policy Development 1981; Blumstein, A.: Research on sentencing. National ResearchCouncil, Washington 1983, pp. 239.
Ministry of Justice: Prison Population Projections 2009-2015, England and Wales. London, Ministry of Justice
Statistics Bulletin, 28 August 2009.
See for example Minnesota Department of Corrections: Minnesota Prison Population Projections. Fiscal Year2008 Report. St. Paul 2008; according to PEW: Public Safety, Public Spending. Forecasting America's Prison
Population 2007-2011. Washington 2007, V, 42 states and the Federal prison administration have adopted prison
projections as instruments to instruct policy makers.
Boe, R.: A Medium-Term Federal Oﬀender Population Forecast: 2001 to 2004. Correctional Service of Canada,
February 2001.
Fisher, G.: Victoria's Prison Population: 2001 to 2006. Sentencing Advisory Council , Melbourne 2007.
www.justice.govt.nz/publications/global-publications/c/2009-2017-criminal-justice-forecast-report
Report to the Government of the United Kingdom on the visit to the United Kingdom carried out by the European
Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 18
November to 1 December 2008. Strasbourg, 8 December 2009, pp. 20, 22, 68.
Amnesty International: Rwanda. The enduring legacy of the genocide and war. London 2004, pp. 3-4.

perpetrators for serious crimes as it was (and evidently still is) the case in Rwanda16. In the wake of
the Rwandan genocide 1994, approximately 120.000 persons suspected being involved in mass murder
have been detained in a prison system designed only for a small faction of this number and in face ofa criminal justice system capable to deal with only a few thousand cases per year17. Systems may be
aﬀected by prison overcrowding for short periods of time and manage to deal with it quickly; in somecountries overcrowding appears as an ebb and ﬂow phenomenon18 others suﬀer from overcrowding forextended periods of time and do not seem to ﬁnd eﬀective, sustainable solutions.
Strategies against overcrowding must be subject to thorough evaluation. It has been noted that theacid test of strategies against overcrowding is not what can be temporally or locally achieved but
what can be sustained19. The question of evaluation poses a myriad of (old) problems which are visible
in cost-beneﬁt research addressing sentencing options, prison and treatment regimes or studies on net
widening. Moreover, the quest for sustained eﬀects points to longitudinal studies and the availabilityof reliable data on various aspects of criminal justice and corrections, therefore also to significant
commitments on the side of reform and research communities.

2. How is Overcrowding Explained?
2.1 Introduction: Overcrowding Defined

The search for eﬀective solutions to overcrowding has to be preceded by the search for causes ofovercrowding and is dependent therefore on a deﬁnition of overcrowding. While at its essence, thesize of a prison system is a function of how many people are admitted to prison and how long theyremain there20, the deﬁnition of overcrowding and the determination of a situation of overcrowding
depends on a mix of normative and factual elements. Normative links to the deﬁnition of overcrowding
are provided by international and regional human rights instruments which prohibit cruel, inhuman anddegrading treatment and punishment and guarantee human dignity. Besides the Convention Against
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1984), the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights contains provisions that prohibit cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment and punishment (Art. 7) and provides for a mechanism of monitoring prison conditions forexample through visits and reports of a Special Rapporteur. Regional human rights treaties reiterateinternational prohibitions of cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment as do national constitutions.
Sometimes national constitutions explicitly mention a prisoners right to adequate accommodation(for example the South African Constitution Art. 35, 2e which places adequate accommodation in
the context of conditions of detention that are consistent with human dignity ). In exceptional cases
national prison law deﬁnes the minimum square meters per prisoner (see for example Article 110 of
the Polish Code of Execution of Criminal Sentences). Moreover, a number of UN and regional soft
law instruments outline minimum standards as regards prison conditions (and prison accommodation)and serve as guidelines in judging infringements on the prohibition of cruel, inhuman or degrading
punishment, among them the Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form ofDetention or Imprisonment or the European Prison Rules21.
The problem of defining overcrowding is due to the lack of an internationally consented set of
17 PRI Rwanda: The contribution of the Gacaca jurisdictions to resolving cases arising from the genocide.
Contributions, limitations and expectations of the post-Gacaca phase. London 2010, p. 11.
18 Human Rights Watch: Prison Conditions in Indonesia. An Asia Watch Report. New York 1990, pp. 12-13.
19 Varenik, R.O.: Mixing Politics, Data, and Detention: Reﬂections on Reform Eﬀorts. In: Open Society Institute(ed.): Justice Initiatives. Pretrial Detention. New York 2008, pp. 172-183, p. 174.
20 Mauer, M.: The Hidden Problem of Time Served in Prison. Social research 74(2007), pp. 701-706.
21 Council of Europe: European Prison Rules. Strasbourg 2006, p. 47; see in particular rule 18.4: National law shallprovide mechanisms for ensuring that these minimum requirements are not breached by the overcrowding ofprisons; see also Recommendation No. R (99) 22 of the Committee of Ministers to Member States Concerning
Prison Overcrowding and Prison Population Inflation, and UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of
Prisoners Adopted by the First United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment ofOﬀenders, held at Geneva in 1955, and approved by the Economic and Social Council by its resolutions 663 C (XXIV)
of 31 July 1957 and 2076 (LXII) of 13 May 1977, rules on accommodation.

67

criteria which could be used to construct an instrument that can be applied uniformly in measuring
overcrowding. In the evaluation of prisons with regard to overcrowding courts have adopted a case bycase approach which does not rely on a single indicator (like for example square meters available for anindividual prisoner), but consider a wide range of aspects in a process which after all weighs interestsof the prison administration, security, economics and individual rights of the prisoner. Overcrowding,of course, then refers to a multi-dimensional assessment as the core of the overcrowding problem islocated in the judgment whether proper prison regimes, related programs of rehabilitation, healthcare, safety of prison inmates as well as staﬀ and public security, kitchen and sanitary facilities, aswell as visiting programs and facilities for work and education and outdoor exercise may be operated
and delivered according to established standards under certain conditions of occupancy. Decisions of
the European Court of Human Rights on the space which should be available refer to guidelines set
by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment22. The CPT has stressed that a standard of 3 m2 per prisoner does not oﬀer a satisfactory
amount of living space and has recommended to adopt a standard of at least 4 m2 per prisoner. It
advised also that cells with less than 6 m2 should be taken out of service as prisoner accommodation23.
The Special Rapporteur has underlined that four square meters are in particularly not acceptable if(remand) prisoners are conﬁned for most of the time within the cell and remain in remand prisons forextended periods of time24. 7 m2 per prisoner might serve as an approximate and desirable guideline
for a detention cell, but establishing overcrowding from the perspective of an infringement of Art. 3 ofthe European Convention on Human Rights will be dependent on more than just an observation of lessthan 7 square meters being available for one prisoner. Length of time spent in an overcrowded prison
facility, possibilities to spend time outside the cell, participation at furlough programs, the deliveryof rehabilitative services and medical treatment as well as security issues will be taken into account,too. Insofar, overcrowding will also be dependent on the normative and cultural framework within
which overcrowding (in terms of infringements on basic rights) is assessed. The European Courtof Human Rights, however, has made clear that falling under a certain amount of space will always
raise an issue under the prohibition of torture and inhumane and degrading treatment or punishment.
The ﬁnding that a prisoner was placed in a cell which left 0,9-1,9 m? of space per inmate evidently
results in inhumane conditions of conﬁnement. In the judgment reference was made to aggravating
circumstances coming with overcrowding, in particular the necessity to sleep in turns, disturbancethrough general commotions and noise from a large number of inmates as well as the lack of real
privacy and risks of catching diseases as well as the length of confinement under overcrowded
conditions, while it was noted that a lack of intent to put prisoners into such conditions would not
exclude a ﬁnding of violation of the prohibition of inhumane and degrading treatment or punishment(Art. 3 ECHR)25. The European Court on Human Rights in recent cases in fact has stressed that space
itself could represent the central factor indicating an overcrowded situation which establishes aninfringement on the prohibition of inhuman treatment/punishment26. It does not come as a surprise
22 CPT: Report to the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina carried out by
the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT)from 11 to 15 May 2009. CPT/Inf (2010) 11, Strasbourg, 31 March 2010, No. 24, 4 square meters per prisoner ina multi-occupancy cell; see also CPT Reports on the visit to Poland carried out by CPT from 30 June to 12 July
1996, on the visit to Albania carried out by the CPT from 9 to 19 December 1997", on the visit to Slovakia by the
CPT from 9-18 October 2000.
23 CPT: Report to the Polish Government on the visit to Poland carried out by the European Committee
for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 30 June to 12 July
1996. Strasbourg, 24 September 1998, No. 70.
24 Commission on Human Rights: Report of the Special Rapporteur, Manfred Nowak. Addendum. Follow-up to
the recommendations made by the Special Rapporteur. visits to Azerbaijan, Brazil, Cameroon, Chile, Mexico,
Romania, the Russian Federation, Spain, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Venezuela. E/CN.4/2006/6/Add.2, 21 March
2006, p. 57.
25 ECHR Kalashnikov v. Russia, Application No. 47095/99, Judgment, Strasbourg, 15 07 2002.
26 ECHR: Orchowski v. Poland, Application no. 17885/04), Judgment, Strasbourg, 22 October 2009;
Sikorski v. Poland, Application No. 17599/05, Judgment, Strasbourg, 22 October 2009.
27 Court references 2B1367 and 2B1368/09 in the Sheriff Court of Lothian and Borders at Edinburgh under the
Extradition Act 2003, Poland v. Adam Kropiwnicki, Prisoner in HM Prison Saughton, Edinburgh 16th December
2009.

68

then that concerns for systemic overcrowding and the risk of a violation of Art. 3 ECHR have beenraised in European Arrest Warrant proceedings27.
Approaches to the assessment of overcrowding under international and national laws and standards
amount roughly to a totality-of conditions test28 which essentially provides for a multi-dimensional
scale. This scale includes core conditions of adequate circumstances of detention/imprisonment29,
including the space available for a prisoner (and it embraces also a prison space per se test). The
smaller the space available, however, the more important becomes space in itself. The ruling of thePolish Constitutional Court30 holding that an emergency provision in the prison law which allows
suspension of the statutorily determined minimum space of 3 square meters is unconstitutional,
underlines that a minimum amount of space determines a baseline of overcrowding. In most countries
in Western Europe, where the tradition has been that each prisoner should be kept in a single cell,
overcrowding generally means having two or three prisoners living in a cell that was originallyconstructed to hold one person. However, single cell accommodation is not the rule in other regions.
In some countries in Eastern Europe throughout the 1990s overcrowding meant three prisoners having
to share one bed, sleeping in turns. The size of living accommodation is, of course, only one element
to be taken into account when considering whether a prison is overcrowded. The Anti-TortureCommittee of the Council of Europe has moreover stated that even with an occupancy level of 95%
of the total design capacity of a prison estate, it becomes diﬃcult or even impossible to deliver thoseservices which are required to ensure respect for inmates' human dignity31. Insofar, the deﬁnition of
overcrowding and its relevance for cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment/punishment as well as humandignity is subject to an ongoing discourse which reﬂects various concerns and interests.
Apart from courts and human rights monitors, prison administrations have adopted procedures andstandards which result in measures of prison capacity and with that also measures of overcrowding.
Such deﬁnitions refer basically to a number of prisoners actually imprisoned exceeding the numberof prison cells/beds which has been set as the maximum to be held in a prison. With a designatedcapacity the number of prisoners is established through administrative decisions for whom theprison can provide adequately for medical care, rehabilitative programs, education, personal safetyof prisoners and staﬀ32. Besides designated capacity, design, rated and operational capacity concepts
can be found. Design capacity refers to the number of inmates which in the planning process wasintended, operational capacity evidently means the number of prisoners which can be accommodated
without putting at risk basic objectives such as health, safety and security while rated capacity relies
on assessments by designated oﬃcials in a jurisdiction33.
Definitions of overcrowding thus require first of all the establishment of a maximum number ofprisoners which can be accommodated in a prison facility. The maximum number must be establishedon the basis of criteria consistent with human rights and minimum standards issued by the United
Nations or regional bodies. Deﬁnitions of overcrowding, however, will diﬀer among world regions andwill be dependent partially on whether single cell accommodation is adopted as a rule34 or communal
28 Chung, S.Y.: Prison Overcrowding: Standards in Determining Eight Amendment Violations. Fordham Law
Review 68(2000), pp. 2351-2400.
29 Steinberg, J.: Prison Overcrowding and the Constitutional Right to Adequate Accommodation in South Africa.
Paper commissioned by the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, Capetown, January 2005.
30 Polish Constitutional Court, decision as of 26 May 2008.
31 CPT: Report to the Government of the United Kingdom on the visit to the United Kingdom carried out by theEuropean Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT)from 18 November to 1 December 2008. Strasbourg 2009, p. 20.
32 Griﬃths, C.T., Murdoch, D.J.: Strategies and Best Practices against Overcrowding in Correctional Institutions.
International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy: Vancouver 2009, p. 1.
33 Baker, J. et al.: A Solution to Prison Overcrowding and Recidivism: Global Positioning System Location of
Parolees and Probationers. - Innovative Tracking Systems. University of Maryland, 2002, pp. 31-32.
34 Coyle, A.: Managing prison overcrowding: A European perspective. Rencontre Européenne des Directeurs dʼ
Administration Pénitentiaire Ministère de Justice. Place Vendôme, Paris,11 July 2008. International Centre for
Prison Studies, London 2008.

69

cells and on the general prison designs and culture35, on the economic resources available and thedegree of elasticity which is demanded from prison administration by politicians, law makers andthe judiciary. However, imprisonment (and prisons) refers to criminal punishment which is the leastelastic when contrasting it with probation, day ﬁnes or other community sanctions. The question of
how much double bunking (or triple bunking) can be tolerated and for which time demonstrates theapparent need for elasticity and the corresponding need to monitor tightly its use in order to avoid
that short term relief strategies turn into long term overcrowding. Prison capacity therefore has been
assumed to be a slippery concept which expresses the need for elasticity and can be used to makeovercrowding more or less apparent36.
Problems of assessing occupancy rates from the perspective of overcrowding in many countries
are due to the lack of robust data on the number of prisoners detained and available (or designed) andadequate prison space. Reports on the basis of prison visits carried out by General Rapporteurs orcommissions provide for additional, but selective information, they may not compensate fully a generaldeﬁcit in valid and reliable (in particular longitudinal) data on prison systems.

2.2 Causes of Overcrowding

2.2.1 Where and When Does Overcrowding Occur?
Explanations of overcrowding have been preoccupied with the excessive use of prison sentences
and the overall growth of prison populations37. Insofar research has dealt rather with explaining prison
growth than ﬁnding answers to the question of how overcrowding may be explained. Evidently, it isassumed widely that overcrowding is strongly correlated with a heavy use of imprisonment38. The
most prominent example these days certainly concerns California exhibiting even by US standards anextremely high rate of imprisonment and at the same time extreme overcrowding which has resulted
in a court decision obliging the state of California to reduce its prison population by some 55.000
prisoners within three years in order to re-establish prison conditions not infringing on constitutionalrights of prison inmates (8th Amendment)39. In Europe, England/Wales may serve as an example for a
prison system which on the one hand is characterized by a strong increase in the number of prisoners
and top-ranked in Western Europe as regards the prisoner rate, and, on the other hand experiences
during the last years overcrowding in many prisons40.
However, a closer look at prison systems reveals that the correlation between the rate of
imprisonment and overcrowding is rather weak. Data from the Council of Europe Penal Statistics
2006 can be used for an analysis of prison occupancy rates of 42 European countries which are
members of the Council of Europe41. Data for 2006 allow for a basic description of occupancy rates
and the under- or over capacity operation of correctional systems. The data show that 17 correctional
systems in 2006 had occupation rates which are less than 95% of the actual capacity (Latvia, Monaco,
Northern Ireland, Turkey, Switzerland, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Republic Srpska, Iceland, Lithuania,
Liechtenstein, Luxemburg, Malta, Moldova, Russian Federation, San Marino, Slovakia). 14 countries

35 Giﬀard, C., Muntingh, L.: The Eﬀect of Sentencing on the Size of the South African Prison Population. Newlands
2006, p. 9.
36 Cox, G.H., Rhodes, S.L.: Managing Overcrowding: Corrections Administrators And The Prison Crisis. Criminal
Justice Policy Review 4(1990), pp. 115-143, p. 120.
37 Blumstein, A., Piquero, A.R.: Restore Rationality to Sentencing Policy. Criminology & Public Policy 6(2007), pp.
679-688.
38 Hartney, C.: US Rates of Incarceration: A Global Perspective. Research from the National Council on Crime andDelinquency, November 2006, p. 1.
39 In the United States District Courts For the Eastern District of California and the Northern District of California
United States District Court, Ralph Coleman et al.(Plaintiffs) v. Arnold Schwarzenegger et al (Defendants);
Marciano Plata et al. (Plaintiﬀs) v. Arnold Schwarzenegger et al. (Defendants), No. CIV S-90-0520 LKK JFM P;
No. C01-1351 TEH, August 4, 2009.
40 Gray, C., Elkins, M.: Projections of Long Term Trends in the Prison Population to 2008 8/01. England and Wales.
London 2001.
41 Aebi, M.F.: Council of Europeʼs Annual Penal Statistics. SPACE I. Strasbourg 2007, p. 18.

70report occupation rates which fall in between 95% and 105% of the oﬃcial prison capacity (Albania,
Bosnia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania,
Slovenia, Sweden, Macedonia, Scotland). Minor overcrowding (of less than 10%) is noted for two
countries (Austria, Georgia), while seven countries had a number of prisoners which exceeded prison
capacity by 10 to 30% (Ukraine, Poland, Belgium, Croatia, Finland, France, England/Wales). Three
countries are aﬀected by occupation rates ranging between 30-50% over the capacity (Spain, Italy,
Hungary) and the rates of another three (Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria) were 50% above the number ofprisoners which oﬃcially can be accommodated in available prison cells.
Graph 1: Prisoner Rates (100.000) and Overcrowding in Europe

Source: Aebi, M.F.: Council of Europeʼs Annual Penal Statistics. SPACE I. Strasbourg 2007, p. 18 the figures
provided in SPACE I for England/Wales are evidently wrong and have been replaced by the figures provided by
NOMS: Population in Custody. Monthly Tables, October 2006, England and Wales. London 2006, table 4.

The correlation between prison occupancy rates and prisoner rates calculated for all countries
covered by the Council of Europe prison statistics amounts to -.153 (Pearsonʼs R) indicating a negative
correlation (which means that with an increasing prisoner rate occupancy rates are decreasing).
However, this is due to many of the Eastern European countries still providing for signiﬁcant oﬃcial
prison capacity despite signiﬁcant decreases in the number of oﬀenders actually sent to prison42. This
results in many of the Eastern European countries experiencing a rather low average utilization ofprison capacity. When taking Eastern European countries out of the calculation then, the correlationcoeﬃcient turns into the positive direction (.204). But, the coeﬃcient is not signiﬁcant and should be
42 See for example CPT: Report to the Latvian Government on the visit to Latvia carried out by the European
Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 27
November to 7 December 2007. Strasbourg 2009, pp. 21-22, noting a significant reduction of the number ofprisoners since the last visit of the CPT to Latvia (from 8231 in to 6530 in 2007) and a number of prisoners well
below the maximum capacity of Latvian prisons.

71interpreted as demonstrating that overcrowding can come with both, low and high levels of prisoner
rates.
2.2.2 Occupancy Rates and Their Correlates
In order to look for broader patterns of possible correlates of overcrowding occupancy and prisoner
rates (as on display in the most recent World Prison Survey43) have been analyzed with introducing
various indices related to the economy, human development, social equality, state fragility, violence
and corruption. The analysis results in the correlation matrix on display below. The degree of
inequality is represented by the Gini index which measures (economic) inequality on the basis of the
distribution of family income in a country. The corruption related data were taken from the mostrecent Corruption Perception Index published by Transparency International. Violence data stemfrom statistics compiled by UNODC on the basis of criminal justice and health data. The Human
Development Index considers besides the Gross National Product life expectancy, the rate of literacy
as well as other economic and education related indicators. Finally, effectiveness and legitimacy
indices refer to security, economic, political and social dimensions which add up to the (total of) statefragility index44.
Table 1: Correlates of Prison Occupancy Rates
Variable
Prisoner Rate (100.000) R *Sig
Pretrial Detention % R
Sig
Foreigners % R
Sig
GDP Capita US$ R
Sig
Gini Index R
Sig
Democracy Index R
Sig
Violent Death / 100.000 R
Sig
Corruption Index R
Sig
Human Development Index R
Sig
State Fragility R
Sig
Eﬀectiveness R
Sig
Legitimacy R
Sig

Total
-.083
.341
.451
.000
-.140
.131
-313
.000
.226
.010
-162
.063
.355
.000
-318
.000
-450
.000
.378
.000
.390
.000
.318
.000

Europe
-.222
.147
-.014
.929
.085
.583
-.093
.596
.236
.123
-.251
.100
.411
.006
-.207
.176
-.350
.020
.440
.004
.395
.010
.452
.003

Africa
.098
.627
.210
.294
-.299
.214
-.263
.186
-.531
.005
.212
.288
.058
.772
-.158
.431
-.122
.587
.188
.558
.140
.488
.061
.764

South America
.097
.703
-.019
.030
-.148
.558
-.436
.070
.362
.154
-.306
.216
.512
.030
-.068
.788
-.233
.352
.338
.185
.384
.128
.243
.347

Asia
-.274
.175
.723
.000
-.032
.887
-.141
.501
.048
.816
.146
.478
.163
.436
-.168
.412
-.473
.017
.207
.321
.266
.199
.082
.697

Sources: Gini Index: www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/ﬁelds/2172.html. GDP: www.infoplease.
com/world/statistics/economic-statistics-by-country.html. Violence: UNODC, Homicide Statistics, Criminal JusticeSources - Latest available year (2003-2008); Homicide Statistics, Public Health Sources - Latest available year (20032008). Democracy Index: The Economist Intelligence Unit's Index of Democracy 2008. Prison figures: www.kcl.
ac.uk/depsta/law/research/icps/worldbrief/. State Fragility, Eﬀectiveness, Legitimacy: Marshall, M.G., Cole, B.R.:
Global Report 2009. Conﬂict, Governance, and State Fragility. Center for Systemic Peace, Center for Global Policy
2010. Human Development Index: hdr.undp.org/en/ Human Development Reports. Corruption Index: Transparency
International: Corruption Perception Index 2009. www.transparency.de* R = Pearsons Correlation Coeﬃcient

The correlations on display in table 1 reveal nothing unexpected for the data at large. Overcrowding
43 www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/law/research/icps/worldbrief/
44 Marshall, M.G., Cole, B.R.: Global Report 2009. Conﬂict, Governance, and State Fragility. Center for Systemic
Peace, Center for Global Policy 2010, p. 31.

72

is correlated with the rate of pretrial detainees, the size of the GDP per capita, the degree of inequality
as measured by the Gini index, democracy, the extent of perceived corruption, state fragility and its
sub components as well as violence. Overcrowding is neither signiﬁcantly correlated with the prisonerrate at large nor with the share of foreign prison inmates. On the basis of this pattern of correlations it
can be concluded that overcrowding problems essentially are associated with problems of governance,a weak economy and obvious problems in the criminal justice systems (expressed in the share of
pretrial detainees). When it comes to the regions it is also to be expected that due to small numbers
correlation coeﬃcients only rarely get signiﬁcant. Most of the correlations which are found for world
regions follow expectations. A signiﬁcant correlation between pretrial detention and occupancy rates
is not found for South America. This means that there is not much variation in the share of pretrial
detainees in South American countries; all prison systems are affected to more or less the same
extent.
2.2.3 Overcrowding in World Regions
2.2.3.1 Clusters of Overcrowding
A cluster analysis conﬁrms the pattern of correlates presented in table 1. Three distinct clusters
emerge, representing low (cluster 1), medium (cluster 2) and high (cluster 3) over capacity operationof correctional systems and displaying diﬀerences in economic, social, governance and criminal justicerelated dimensions. Cluster 1 points to a high GDP per capita, a low violence rate, low state fragility,
high achievements in human development and democracy and a low extent of perceived corruption.
Most of the countries falling into cluster 1 belong to Europe, North America and Oceania. Cluster
2 exhibits in comparison with cluster 1 a slightly higher rate of overcrowding, a comparable rate of
pretrial detainees and a significantly higher rate of imprisonment. Differences in comparison withcluster 1 are particularly marked in the GDP variable, in violent death rates and in the corruption
index. Cluster 3 embraces countries with high occupancy rates. While the prisoner rate in this cluster
is low compared with the other clusters, it is distinguished from the other clusters clearly through ahigh rate of violent death, low per capita GDP, democracy and human development values as well as
manifest signs of weak governmental structures. An elevated rate of pretrial detainees in cluster 3
points then to deﬁcits in case processing and procedural capacity.
Table 2: Clusters of Overcrowding
Final Cluster Centers
1
Occupancy Rate %Pretrial Detainees %GDP Capita US$
Violent Death/100.000
State Fragility Index 2008
Prisoner Rate / 100000
Human Development Index
Democracy Index
Corruption Index 2009
Share of Regions at Clusters() % of countries from a
region falling in clusters 1 - 3

105,1426,73
32331,82
1,41
1,05
156,32
954,098,367,90
23% (100)Northern Europe
36% (90) Western Europe
5% (10) Southern Europe
5% (33) Far East
5% (10) South East Asia
5% (20) Near East
5%(20) Middle East
8% (100) North America
8% (100) Oceania

Cluster2
110,8324,74
15604,35
8,342,17
197,22
867,577,03
4,88
9% (25) Southern Africa
4% (10) South East Asia
39% (53) Eastern Europe
13% (40) Southern Europe
4% (10) Western Europe
4% (33) Far East
9% (40) Middle East
18% (25) South America

3
144,6840,01
3894,9415,13
11,37
140,80656,785,082,90
8% (75) Southern Africa
9% (100) East Africa
14% (100) West Africa
5% (100) North Africa
8% (100) Central Asia
11% (80) South East Asia
4% (100) Caribbean
11% (47) Eastern Europe
5% (50) Southern Europe
1% (33) Far East
3% (40) Middle East
5% (80) Near East
16% (75) South America

732.2.3.2 Overcrowding in Europe
When looking at prison occupancy rates as they unfolded after the last account in the Council ofEurope Prison Statistics 2006, it can be observed that in many cases of overcrowding on display in thedata from 2006 there were no improvements made. For Greece, the CPT noted at the occasion of avisit in 2007 that despite plans to implement a prison construction program and a criminal policy whichshould encourage alternatives to imprisonment and early release/parole, prison overcrowding had
not lost its momentum45. The problem of overcrowding persists also in Bulgaria46 although Bulgaria
has experienced a significant reduction in the prison population over the last years47. Albania madeprogress in reducing overcrowding problems, though over capacity operation of facilities for remandand sentenced prisoners still is observed48. Other European countries have evidently slipped deeper
into overcrowding problems (Belgium49, France50, Italy51). Since mid 2008, overcrowding affects
Irish prisons. In face of a“design capacity”of 2.969 places counted in July 2008 3.589 prisoners had
to be accommodated and the Irish prison population reached almost 4.000 at the end of May 200952.
In England/Wales approximately a quarter of prisoners since the beginning of the new millennium
is detained under conditions of overcrowding53. On the other side, some countries have managed toreduce prison populations significantly (Portugal, Romania, The Netherlands, Germany)54.
The situation in Central/Eastern Europe and Russia looks rather mixed. For Georgia, serious
problems of overcrowding are reported, evidently as a consequence of a rapid increase in the numberof prisoners between 2004 and 2008. The number of prisoners tripled in this period from some 6.500
to almost 20.00055. Overcrowding as a problem has been raised for Poland and Hungary 56 (whichis also visible in the number of cases pending before the European Court on Human Rights). The
most dramatic reduction in prison numbers in any member state of the Council of Europe over thelast decade occurred in Russia, where the prison population stood at over one million in 1998 and

45 CPT: Report to the Government of Greece on the visit to Greece carried out by the European Committee for thePrevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 20 to 27 February 2007.
Strasbourg 2008, p. 25; see also van Kalmthout, A.M. Knapen M.M., Morgenstern, C.:
Pre-trial Detention in the European Union. An Analysis of Minimum Standards in Pre-trial Detention and theGrounds for Regular Review in the Member States of the EU. Nijmegen 2009, pp. 437-464.
46 United States Department of State, 2009 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - Bulgaria, 11 March 2010,
available at: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4b9e530d2.html [accessed 28 March 2010]47 Round Table on detention conditions, Prison population in the European Union Brussels 8 December 2009, http://
www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/law/research/icps/worldbrief/?search=europe&x=Europe, the number of prisoners in
Bulgaria stands at approximately 9400 in 2009, a significant decrease from some 11500 in 1998.
48 Amnesty International: Amnesty International’s Concerns in Albania: January-June 2009. London 2009, p. 3.
49 Committee against Torture: Committee Against Torture Begins Review of Report of Belgium. Geneva, 12
November 2008.
50 Report By Mr. Alvaro Gil-Robles, Commissioner For Human Rights on the Effective Respect For Human Rights inFrance Following his Visit From 5 to 21 September 2005, CommDH(2006)2, Strasbourg, 15 February 2006, p. 21.
51 Human Rights Council: Report of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. Addendum: Mission to Italy. A/
HRC/10/21/Add.5, 26 January 2009, No. 24-27.
52 ICCPR Follow-Up Submission on Ireland, subsequent to rule 71, paragraph 5 of the UN Human Rights Committee’s
rules of procedure, August 2009, p. 4.
53 See www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmhansrd.htm
54 15th Conference of Directors of Prison Administration:“Overcrowded Prisons: Looking for Solutions”.
Conclusions by the General Rapporteur Edinburgh 9-11 September 2009, CDAP(2009)04; see also Round Table on
detention conditions, Prison population in the European Union Brussels 8 December 2009, www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/
law/research/icps/worldbrief/?search=europe&x=Europe.
55 Penal Reform International: Assessment of Penal Legislation in Georgia. Tiflis 2009, p. 19; Human Rights Council:
Tenth session. Agenda item 3. Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment, Manfred Nowak. Addendum Follow-Up to the Recommendations Made by the Special
Rapporteur. Visits to China, Georgia, Jordan, Nepal, Nigeria and Togo, A/HRC/10/44/Add.5, 17 February 2009, p.
98-100; Human Rights Watch: World Report. New York 2010, p. 416.
56 European Roma Rights Centre: Written Comments of the European Roma Rights Centre, Chance for Children
Foundation and the Hungarian Helsinki Committee: Concerning Hungary. For Consideration by the United
Nations Committee at its 98th Session, p. 12.

74

had fallen to 763,000 by the beginning of 200557. While the reduction has been explained by a mix ofgrounds, among them political will, legislative changes, the systematic involvement of key playersof the criminal justice process, especially judges and prosecutors, re-assurance of the public andthe media that the changes in the prison system will not threaten public safety, in recent years theprison population has increased again and stands in 2008 at approximately 900,000 prisoners (howeverstill well below prisoner rates in the 1990s)58. In other Central and Eastern European countries
overcrowding has been linked to remand prisons and the vast use of pretrial detention. In Moldova
efforts to reduce prison overcrowding have been launched through implementing alternatives toimprisonment, but overcrowding persists in remand prisons59. Also, in the Ukraine problems ofovercrowding are felt especially in pretrial detention centers60.
2.2.3.3 North America
Prison growth has been particularly marked in the United States where a policy of mass
incarceration61 has resulted in imprisonment and prisoner rates that go far beyond what is observedin other countries62. With 1 among 100 adults in prison at any given day costs for incarceration are
placing increasing pressure on public budgets and experiences of imprisonment are far more prevalent
among Hispanic and Afro-American men (with one in nine black men aged 20 - 34 years behind bars)63.
However, prison rates, prison growth and prison crowding vary widely in the United States64. Whilerates of imprisonment continued to grow for almost four decades between 1973 and 2008, the paceof growth slowed down during the last years and 2009 saw the ﬁrst time a decline - though small andamounting to - 0,4% for the United States at large65. The overall decline did not reduce the divide
between states with decreasing numbers of prisoners on the one hand and states with an expanding
system of imprisonment. Rather, this divide is deepening, showing for example states with extreme
drops in the number of prisoners and states with evenly extreme increases. Overcrowding in theAmerican prison system can be studied on the basis of oﬃcial accounts and statistics which provide foran accurate picture of occupancy of most prison systems in the United States66. Canada, in contrast to
the United States, has a far lower prisoner rate and less capacity problems despite a development ofcrime rates that corresponds to that in the United States.
2.2.3.4 Latin America
Latin America displays a mixed picture as regards the size and growth of prison population67 but
virtually all countries in this region have been plagued by prison overcrowding for decades. Recent
reports of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights have revealed overcrowding problems
in the Chilean prison system68. In Mexico overcrowded prisons have been linked to prison riots and
57 Russian Research Center for Human Rights: Russian Federation. NGO Report on the implementation of the
ICCPR (prior to the adoption of the List of issues). Moscow, December 2008 p. 3.
58 Coyle, A.: Managing prison overcrowding: A European perspective. Rencontre Européenne des Directeurs dʼ
Administration Pénitentiaire Ministère de Justice. Place Vendôme, Paris,11 July 2008. International Centre for
Prison Studies, London 2008, p. 8; Russian Research Center for Human Rights: opus cited, 2008, p. 3.
59 Human Rights Council: Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment, Manfred Nowak, Mission to the Republic of Moldova. A/HRC/10/44/Add.3, 12
February 2009, No. 30-48.
60 Amnesty International: Brieﬁng for the Committee against Torture on Ukraine Index: EUR 50/001/2007 Geneva
April 2007.
61 The PEW Center on the States: One in 100:Behind Bars in America 2008. Washington 2008.
62 Tonry, M.: Looking Back to See the Future of Punishment in America. social research 74(2007), pp. 353-378.
63 The PEW Center on the States: opus cited, 2008, p. 6.
64 The PEW Center on the States: opus cited, 2008, p. 7.
65 The PEW Center on the States: Prison Count 2010. State Population Declines for the First Time in 38 Years.
Washington 2010, p. 1.
66 See for example Quarterly Report on the Status of Prison Overcrowding, Fourth Quarter 2009
Massachusetts Department of Correction Submitted in Compliance with Chapter 799 Section 21 of the Actsof 1985; Commission on Prison and Jail Overcrowding: Report to the Governor and the Legislature, State ofConnecticut, 2006.
67 Walmsley, R.: World Prison Population List (eighth edition). Kings College, London 2009, p. 3.

75

severe impediments to successful re-entry programs69. Argentina reports critical prison conditions
in particular from the province of Buenos Aires. In 2009, the overpopulation in provincial prisonsworsened with 77% of detainees placed in pretrial detention70 and despite a landmark ruling of theArgentine Supreme Court from May 2005 which declared that all prisons in the country must abideby the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners there are no signsof significant changes. Brazil's prisons are plagued by severe overcrowding, too. Delays within thejustice system contribute to overcrowding; some 45% of all inmates in Brazil are pretrial detainees.
The Brazilian National Justice Council reported in 2009 that approximately 60,000 inmates were being
held arbitrarily71. For Uruguay plans to address overcrowding have been developed in a response toa mission of the Special Rapporteur72. Paraguay, in spite of a rather low prisoner rate, displays heavy
overcrowding in the prison system73.
2.2.3.5 Overcrowding in Africa
Africa seems to be particularly exposed to overcrowding74. The most recent figures show
for all African countries (below the Sahara) for which information is available elevated rates ofovercrowding75. Overcrowding and related precarious conditions of prisons had been made a central
point in the Kampala Declaration 1996 which draws on experiences from the 1970s and 1980s 76. In
addition to chronic overcrowding problems, several African countries have experienced substantial
growth of prison populations in recent years as well as deterioration of capacity problems comingwith that. Uganda reports for October 2009 approximately 31.000 prisoners (up from around 20.000
in 2007). More than 50% of these are remand prisoners77. As the prison capacity was established ataround 10.000 beds in 2007, capacity problems evidently have signiﬁcantly worsened. The optimistic
assessment in the 2007 Uganda census report which assumed a further decline in the prison population
growth, was certainly unfounded78. The Tanzanian Prison Service is responsible for the custody andcare of more than 45.000 inmates while its oﬃcial accommodation capacity is 22.669. This implies thatthe prison facilities are overcrowded by more than 100%79. Overcrowding then is reported from the
Democratic Republic of Congo80 as well as from countries of Southern Africa. For South Africa a prison
population of 40% over the oﬃcial capacity was noted for 2009. Among prisoners ﬁgured some 16,000
68 Inter-American Commission on Human Rights: Rapporteurship on the Rights of Persons Deprived of Liberty. N°
39/08.
69 Comunicaci n Social GDF, Bolet n 1498 del Domingo, 06 de septiembre de 2009.
70 Human Rights Watch: World Report. New York 2010, p. 194.
71 Human Rights Watch: World Report. New York 2010, p. 203.
72 Oﬃce of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights: United Nations Special Procedures. Facts andFigures 2009. New York 2009, p. 10.
73 Human Rights Council: Seventh session Item 3 of the agenda Promotion and Protection of All Human Rights,
Civil, Political, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Including the Right to Development. Report of the Special
Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Manfred Nowak,
Addendum Mission to Paraguay A/HRC/7/3/Add. 3.1 October 2007 p. 17.
74 Dankwa, V.: Overcrowding in African Prisons. In: Sarkin, J. (ed.): Human Rights in African Prisons. Capetown
2008, pp. 83-92, p. 88; see also the Report of the Mission of the Special Rapporteur on Prisonsand Conditions of Detention in Africa to the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia 15 - 29 March, 2004, p. 24;
Report of the Special Rapporteur on Prisons and Conditions of Detention in Africa, The African Commission on
Human and Peopleʼs Rights: Report to the Government of the Republic of Cameroon on the visit of the Special
Rapporteur on Prisons and Conditions of Detention in Africa From 2 to 15 September 2002, p. 10; p. 126 (Guinea),p. 137 (Liberia), p. 154 (Sierra Leone).
75 Muntingh, L.: Alternative Sentencing in Africa. In: Sarkin, J. (ed.): Human Rights in African Prisons. Capetown
2008, pp. 178-203, p. 184.
76 Kampala Declaration on Prison Conditions in Africa, available at www. penalreform.org/english/ pana̲declarationkampala.htm.
77 Uganda Prison Service: Summary of UPS Prisoners. Statistical Returns October 2009. Kampala 2009.
78 Uganda Prison Service: Census of Prisoners in 48 Central Government Prisons, 30 th September 2007. Kampala
2007, p. 3.
79 www.moha.go.tz/index.php?option=com̲content&view=article&id=20&Itemid=11.
80 2009 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - Republic of the Congo Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights,
and Labor, March 11, 2010.

76

who were detained because they could not aﬀord bail or paying a ﬁne of 1,000 Rand (102€) or less81.
Namibia is aﬀected by prison capacity problems since independence at the beginning of the 1990s 82.
Overcrowding has been reported from the central prison in Windhoek83 as well as from police detention
facilities84.
In Africa, overcrowding problems are evidently independent from the prisoner rate. Overcrowding
problems are noted for West and Central African countries (with imprisonment rates well below
those found in Europe or North America) as overcrowding is observed in countries with high prisoner
rates such as South Africa, Botswana or Namibia85. Sudaǹs prisons show signs of overcrowding86 as
do most of the countries of Northern Africa, for which information is available. Moreover, in many
African countries, prison facilities were built during colonial rule and have received little attention
after independence87.
2.2.3.6 Overcrowding in Asia
Prison growth and prison overcrowding are reported from virtually all South-East Asian countries.
There were approximately 90.000 prisoners in Indonesia in 2006; three years later more than 140,000
inmates have been counted in face of an oﬃcial prison capacity of 80,00088. The Special Rapporteur has
noted that a large share of the Indonesian prison population concerns drug oﬀenders and that pretrial
detainees are outnumbering sentenced prisoners89. Overcrowding has a negative impact on eﬀorts tocontrol tuberculosis and other transmittable diseases (in particular HIV) in Indonesian prisons90. For
Jakarta prisons it was stated that in face of a oﬃcial capacity of 5000 inmates these prisons housed in2009 nearly 12,000 detainees, among them some 6.900 who were detained for drug related crime91.
Sri Lankan prisons hold some 28.000 prisoners although the official capacity was established with
8.200 prison beds92. Overcrowded prisons have been reported from the Philippines93, from Vietnam94,
Thailand (200.000 prisoners in prisons and detention facilities designed to hold 100.000)95 and Pakistan(95.000 prisoners are detained in 72 prisons originally built to hold 36.000 persons)96. Most of Central
81 www.pﬁ.org/Home/Centre for Justice and Reconciliation/News/Partnership for Addressing Prison Overcrowding
in South Africa.
82 Oxche, T.-R.: Post-independence prison reform in Namibia - some observations. CSPRI Newsletter No. 17, 2006.
83 The Namibian, April 18, 2008.
84 Ruppel, O.C., Groenewaldt, A.L.: Conditions of Police Cells in Namibia. University of Namibia, Human Rights
and Documentation Centre 2009.
85 See Muntingh, L.: opus cited, 2008, pp. 184-185.
86 2009 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - Sudan. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor,
March 11, 2010.
87 Tapscott, C.: Challenges to good prison governance in Africa. In: Sarkin, J. (ed.): Human Rights in African
Prisons. Capetown 2008, pp. 67-82, p. 73.
88 www.ssig.kpkk.gov.my/ssig/news/fullnews.php?news̲id=89191&news̲cat=
89 Human Rights Council: Seventh session. Agenda item 3. Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and othercruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Manfred Nowak. Addendum, Mission to Indonesia. A/
HRC/7/3/Add.7 10 March 2008, p. 30; drug offences and drug offenders represent significant shares of prison
populatrions in many South-Asian countries, see for example Thailand where in 2008 the share of drug oﬀenders
at the prison population at large amounted to one third (Department of Corrections, Ministry of Justice Thailand,
Bangkok, 1 April 2008).
90 IRIN: Indonesia: Overcrowding fuels TB in prisons. Friday 02 April 2010.
91 Intellasia: Indonesia's drug ﬁght pushes prison Aids explosion. 5 Aug, 2009.
92 Human Rights Council: Seventh session. Agenda item 3. Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and othercruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Manfred Nowak. Mission to Sri Lanka. A/HRC/7/3/Add.6,
26 February 2008, pp. 2, 22.
93 ICRC: Philippines: protecting life and dignity in places of detention. ICRC Bulletin No. 01 / 2010, 3 February
2010.
94 2009 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - Vietnam. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor,
March 11, 2010.
95 2009 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - Thailand. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor,
March 11, 2010.
96 2009 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - Pakistan. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor,
March 11, 2010.

77

Asian countries as well as countries of the Far East (for example Japan) are less aﬀected by prison
overcrowding.
2.2.3.7 Post-Conﬂict and Conﬂict-Aﬀected Countries
Particular problems of overcrowding are observed in countries which undergo rapid social change
and signiﬁcant transitions or ﬁnd themselves in a post-conﬂict situation and in a diﬃcult process of statebuilding. Here, prisons and prison conditions should become an integral part of the general reform of
the security sectors and general security policies97. However, prisons until now did not receive muchattention in countries with fragile and weak state structures, although a properly operating prison
system could contribute to building up trust in the state and provide for security. Particular problems
of weak states are experienced in Afghanistan and Haiti. Of course, more countries are aﬀected by the
problem of having to cope with ongoing violence and the task of re-establishing state structures andfunctioning criminal justice systems. Table 1 accounts for the extent of state fragility and shows thatstate fragility is correlated with conditions unfavorable to an eﬀective handling of prison problems.
In Afghanistan a rapidly increasing prison population is assumed to be the result of serious
shortcomings in the criminal justice system which faces a heavy increase in cases coming to courts(also as a consequence of new criminal laws, in particular criminal drug law)98. The prison population ispredicted to reach 110.000 in 2010 (up from 9.600 in 200799).
The Haitian prison system suﬀers from signiﬁcant problems100. The prison system is overburdened,
understaffed and severely overcrowded. As of December 2008, Haiti's 8,204 prisoners were heldin facilities with a capacity of 2.448101. The number of prisoners has skyrocketed from some 2.500
in 2005 to more than 6.000 in 2007. The physical infrastructure of criminal corrections has been
partially destroyed in violent conﬂicts. The National Penitentiary, in April 2007, housed more than
2.500 prisoners although it was built to accommodate 800 detainees. Approximately four ﬁfths of theprisoners are not sentenced but pretrial detainees102. The rate of pretrial detainees is particularly highamong young prisoners103. Prison conditions certainly are not in line with the United Nations MinimumStandards as basic needs of prisoners such as access to potable water, health services, food etc.
allegedly are not catered to in an adequate way. Security problems in the prison are responded to by
reducing the number of prison visits and keeping prisoners locked up in their cells104.
2.2.3.8 Prison Overcrowding: A Mixed Picture
Data on prison capacity and overcrowding reveal also that overcrowding may affect a countryʼ
s prisons selectively with some prisons showing over capacity occupancy while others operate
below the level of accommodation capacity105. A prison system at large may not exhibit a situationof overcrowding, but nonetheless overcrowding restricted to certain regions or individual prison
facilities may occur106. As prison systems are structured on the basis of general normative principles
such as separation of juveniles from adults and women from men, high risk oﬀenders from low risk
97 OECD: The OECD DAC Handbook on Security System Reform (SSR). Supporting Security and Justice. Paris
2007, pp. 199.
98 International Centre For Prison Studies: Alternatives to Imprisonment in Afghanistan. A Report by theInternational Centre for Prison Studies. London 2009, p. 4.
99 Walmsley, R.: World Prison Population List (eighth edition). Kings College, London 2009, p. 4.
100 Security Sector Reform Monitor: Haiti. The Centre for International Governance Innovation. Waterloo, May
2009, pp. 6-7.
101 Human Rights Watch: World Report. New York 2010, p. 229.
102 IACHR Press Release No. 32/07 Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons deprived of Liberty Concludes Visit to the
Republic of Haiti , http://www.cidh.oas.org/Comunicados/English/2007/32.07eng.htm;
103 Fuller Anne et al.: Prolonged pretrial detention in Haiti. Vera Institute of Justice, July 2002.
104 Observations of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Upon Conclusion of Its April 2007 Visit to Haiti.
General Secretariat Organization of American States, Washington 2008, p. 8.
105 See for example Uganda Prison Service: Summary of UPS Prisoners. Statistical Returns October 2009. Kampala
2009, pp. 2-3, where for the South-West of Uganda it is reported that prisons hold more than the threefold of what
prisons are designed to accommodate, while in the East of Uganda the over capacity rate lies at 15%.

78

prisoners or by placing prisoners close to the communities they come from, it is evident that the ﬂow
of prisoners may aﬀect some prison facilities while others remain unaﬀected. In particular in countries
with a federal political system which leaves responsibility for the operation of criminal justice tostates or other political entities, overcrowding may be felt only in some political entities. Reports of
the General Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
provide for examples of the uneven distribution of prisoners across a prison system and point toparticular problems of prisons serving large cities where various social problems converge and fuelprison overcrowding107. Sometimes, deterioration of overcrowding comes with particular crack downs
in speciﬁc locations and related to special crime problems108.
Although, there are but few longitudinal studies on prison overcrowding, it can be assumed on
the basis of research and reports that distinct patterns of careers in overcrowding exist which canbe modeled along various economic, cultural and political conditions109. Turning points in the course
prison populations take reﬂect the impact of amnesties, changes in sentencing policies, in sensitivity
towards certain types of crime etc.110
Besides prisons, detention centers holding illegal immigrants or psychiatric hospitals
accommodating and treating insane/mentally ill oﬀenders can be aﬀected by overcrowding, too111.
Prison populations are growing in some parts of the world. However, in some regions/countries
marked decreases in prison populations have been observed in the last decade. There is evidently no
uniform trend. Even within (Federal) states prisoner rates take completely diﬀerent courses.
Finland may serve then as (a rather unique) example for a long term trend of falling numbers of

106 See for example the case of Portugal in Human Rights Council: Universal Periodic Review. Report of the Working
Group on the Universal Periodic Review. Portugal. A/HRC/13/10, 4 January 2010, No. 15; for Switzerland,Committee against Torture, Forty-second session, 26 April-14 May 2010: List of issues to be addressed during
the consideration of the sixth periodic report of Switzerland (CAT/C/CHE/6)* 18 January 2010, No. 21; Guyana,Committee Against Torture: Thirty-seventh session 6-24 November 2006, Consideration of Reports Submitted
by States Parties Under Article 19 of the Convention. Conclusion and recommendations of the Committee against
Torture (Extracts for follow-up), Guyana.
107 Human Rights Council: Seventh session. Agenda item 3. Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and othercruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Manfred Nowak. Addendum, Mission to Indonesia.
A/HRC/7/3/Add.7 10 March 2008, p. 13; Commission on Human Rights: Sixty-second session Item 11 (a)of the provisional agenda. Report of the Special Rapporteur, Manfred Nowak. Addendum. Follow-up to therecommendations made by the Special Rapporteur. Visits to Azerbaijan, Brazil, Cameroon, Chile, Mexico,
Romania, the Russian Federation, Spain, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Venezuela. E/CN.4/2006/6/Add. 2, 21 March
2006, p. 29.
108 CBC News: Prison overcrowding worse after Hells Angels roundup. Last Updated: Monday, April 20, 2009.
109 See for example Steinberg, J.: Prison Overcrowding and the Constitutional Right to Adequate Accommodation
in South Africa. Paper commissioned by the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, January 2005
describing such ﬂuctuations for South Africa as do Dissel, A., Ellis, S.: Reform and Stasis: Transformation inSouth African Prisons. Center for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, Capetown 2002 or Spelman, W.:
Crime, cash, and limited options: Explaining the prison boom. Criminology & Public Policy 8(2009), pp. 29-77 for
the United States; Ministry of Justice: Story of the prison population 1995 - 2009 England and Wales. Ministry ofJustice Statistics bulletin. London 2009, for England/Wales.
110 Giﬀard, C., Muntingh, L.: The Eﬀect of Sentencing on the Size of the South African Prison Population. Newlands
2006, V.
111 See Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families:
Consideration of Reports Submitted by States Parties Under Article 9 of the Convention. Concluding Observationsof the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. Mexico.
Fifth session, Geneva, 30 October-3 November 2006, No. 27; CPT/Inf (2010); Response of the Governmentof Austria to the Report of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment (CPT) on its visit to Austria from 15 to 25 February 2009, CPT/Inf (2010) 5,
Strasbourg, 11 March 2010, p. 36; Human Rights Watch: World Report. New York 2010, pp. 316, 350.

79

prisoners112 as are examples Germany, Portugal and The Netherlands for a more recent short term
but signiﬁcant decline of the prison population and questions linked to signiﬁcant vacancy in prison
facilities.
In Germany a steady decline brought down the prison population from 81.176 (March 31 2003)
to 73.592 in 2009 (March 31), a drop of almost 10%. The General Accounting Office of the Stateof Hamburg recently has advised the state government to respond to the dramatic decline in the
Hamburg prison population (2003: N=3.120; 2008: 2.030) through adjusting the prison budget andreducing the prison capacity accordingly113. The decline in the Hamburg prison population is due toreductions in both, the number of pretrial detainees and sentenced prisoners. In the case of sentenced
prisoners, the reduction, which is particularly marked for prison sentences above one year, was rather
due to a drop in prison admissions and not to release on parole (which has rather decreased between
2003 and 2008). The sharp decrease in prison admissions has more than neutralized an increase in theuse of indeterminate (incapacitating) measures of security and more restrictive parole decisions.
Graph 2: Prisoner Rates in the State of Hamburg 2003 - 2009

112 Lappi-Seppala, T.: Reducing the prison population: long-term experiences from Finland. In: Council of Europe(ed.): Crime Policy in Europe. Strasbourg 2006, pp. 139-155; von Hofer, H.: Nordic Criminal Statistics 1950-1995.
Stockholm 1997.
113 Rechnungshof der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg: Jahresbericht 2009 über die Prüfung der Haushalts- undWirtschaftsführung der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg mit Bemerkungen zur Haushaltsrechnung 2007.
Hamburg, January 8, 2009, pp. 156.

80

Model Summary and Parameter Estimates
Dependent Variable:Occupancy
Equation
LinearModel Summary

Parameter Estimates

R Square

F

df1

df2

Sig.

Constant

b1,967

555,986

1

19

,000

3183,767-68,373

Source: Statistisches Bundesamt: Rechtspﬂege Bestand der Gefangenen und Verwahrten in den deutschen
Justizvollzugsanstalten nach ihrer Unterbringung auf Haftplätzen des geschlossenen und oﬀenen Vollzugs jeweils zu
den Stichtagen 31. März, 31. August und 30. November eines Jahres. Wiesbaden 2010.

The debates ensuing at the occasion of the Hamburg General Accounting Oﬃce report demonstratethat the prison population drop was neither planned nor was it expected. It was and still is rather the(unintended) consequence of a decline in crime (in particular robbery, rape and aggravated forms ofproperty crime), furthermore a result of a long term decrease in the number of asylum seekers who
were exposed particularly to the risk of being detained prior to trial114.
The Dutch ministry of justice in May 2009 announced the closing down of 8 prisons and the lossof some 1200 prison related jobs due to a rapid decline in the number of prisoners which is assumed
to be the result of declining crime rates115. Other European countries experienced also decreases inprison populations as can be seen in graph 3, while some display a certain degree of stability in prison
admissions and prisoner rates.
Graph 3: Prisoner Rates In Europe 1987 - 2009

Sources: Walmsley, R.: World Prison Population List (eighth edition). Kings College, London 2009 as well as updated
prison data from national correctional services.
114 Albrecht, H.-J.: Criminalization and Victimization of Immigrants in Germany. In: Palidda, S. (ed): Criminalisation
and Victimization of Migrants in Europe. Agenzia X, Milano 2009, pp. 118-138.
115 www.nrc.nl/international/article2246821.ece/Netherlands̲to̲close̲prisons̲for̲lack̲of̲criminals; the ministryannounced as well that The Netherlands will sell prison capacity (500 beds) to Belgium which is suﬀering fromovercrowding.

812.3 Criminalization, Crime Rates, Growth of Prison Populations and Overcrowding

A consensus seems to exist that changes in crime rates do not contribute significantly to prison
growth and overcrowding 116. However, the assumption that crime rates are not correlated withprison growth (and overcrowding associated with that) deserves greater scrutiny. Most of the studies
assuming a non-correlation stem from North America where in fact in face of decreasing crime rates
overcrowding problems in some jurisdictions have worsened. While this assumption may hold true
for changes in crime rates in general, increases in (sensitive) crime categories which attract prison
sentences, in particular long prison sentences, during the last decades have been identiﬁed as driversof overcrowding in prisons as has the reliance on criminal law for example in the ﬁeld of public orderpolicies.
Drug oﬀences are a prominent example for penal policies which in many countries have signiﬁcantly
contributed to prison inflation. Growing public concern for marijuana, heroin and then cocaine andcrack (sometimes analyzed from the viewpoint of moral panics 117 and resulting in the declarationof wars against drugs118) internationally went hand in hand with enhanced prison sentences for all
forms of drug offences (including sometimes addicted drug users119). Changes in the structure ofprison populations which started to take eﬀect in the 1980s point to the overreliance on imprisonment
as a response to developing and expanding drug markets. Germany, for example has experienced
overcrowding problems in the 1980s as a consequence of sentence enhancements in drug laws anda corresponding wave of long prison sentences. Also for Sweden and Denmark sentencing of drug
offenders is cited as a driver of admissions to prisons and as a cause of capacity problems in thelast decades120. Increasing violence associated with drug markets in the new millennium in many
Latin American countries has generated secondary crime waves which are felt in already strainedcorrectional systems121. Evidence from the United States shows also a strong link between drug
policies, drug arrests and increases in prison populations122.
Large scale violence erupting suddenly in the form of genocide, as was the case in Rwanda, or as aconsequence of socially and politically motivated violent unrest as was the case in Haiti during the lastyears may result in a surge of the number of pretrial detainees in criminal justice systems which are
not geared towards eﬃcient handling and processing of such large numbers. But, the data on prison
overcrowding analyzed above demonstrate also that a lasting high level of general violence experienced
in a country is positively correlated with the extent of overcrowding. While such a correlation does
not say something about a causal relationship, it seems nevertheless plausible to assume that sustained
high levels of violence represent a proxy for weak state structures and with that a system of criminal
116 Hartney, C.: US Rates of Incarceration: A Global Perspective. Research from the National Council on Crime andDelinquency. Washington, November 2006; Coyle, A.: Managing prison overcrowding: A European perspective.
Rencontre Européenne des Directeurs dʼAdministration Pénitentiaire Ministère de Justice. Place Vendôme,Paris,11 July 2008. International Centre for Prison Studies, London 2008, p. 7; Cox, G.H., Rhodes, S.L.: opus
cited 1990, p. 135 presenting data from a survey of correctional administrators which show that overcrowding is
explained by administrators rather by.stricter sentencing codes and more punitive public opinion than by increases
in crime or the inability to build new prison space.
117 Cohen, S.: Folk Devils and Moral Panics. 1972; Goode, E., Ben-Yehuda, N.: Moral panics: the social constructionof deviance. Cambridge 1994.
118 Gerber, J., Jensen, E.L.: Drug War American Style - The Internationalization of Failed Policy and Its Alternatives.
New York/NY, London 2001; Caulkins, J-P., Reuter, P., Iguchi, M.Y., Chiesa, J.: How Goes the "War on Drugs"?
An Assessment of U.S. Drug Problems and Policy. RAND, Santa Monica 2005.
119 Intellasia: Indonesiaʼs drug ﬁght pushes prison Aids explosion. 5 Aug, 2009.
120 Träskman, P.O.: Drug Control and Drug Oﬀences in the Nordic Countries: A Criminal Political Failure too oftenInterpreted as a Success. Journal of Scandinavian Studies in Criminology and Crime Prevention 5(2004), pp 236256, pp. 250.
121 Ousey, G.C., Lee, M.R.: Homicide Trends and Illicit Drug Markets: Exploring Diﬀerences Across Time. Justice
Quarterly 24(2007), pp. 48-79; Reuter, P.: Systemic violence in drug markets. Crime, Law & Social Change
52(2009), pp. 275-284.
122 Gottschalk, M.: Money and mass incarceration: The bad, the mad, and penal reform. Criminology & Public Policy
8(2009), pp. 97-109, p. 99.

82

justice which lacks the means to deal eﬀectively with large numbers of serious crime.
While the emergence of new social problems, the eruption of large scale violence or systemic
violence may influence the course prison populations take, a third example for crime impacting on
prisons and causing prison inflation refers to general public order offences. Reports from various
world regions have raised questions as regards the role old criminal law plays for prison congestion.
Anachronistic colonial law has been cited as a cause of prison overcrowding in some Africancountries. Criminal law which sends scores of people to detention facilities for vagrancy, prostitution,loitering or failing to pay debts may indeed have an inﬂationary impact on the prison population. Underconditions of economic problems and large scale poverty there will be no shortage of a constant supply
of detainees if such laws are strictly enforced123.

2.4 A Growing Demand for Punishment and Reliance on Imprisonment: Punitivity,
Imprisonment and Overcrowding

Increases in prison entries as well as increases in sentence length (and increases in the subsequent
length of stay in the prison system) have been specified as major contributors to the inflation ofprison population and overcrowding124. However, it has been argued on the basis of cross-national
research also that sentence length is not necessarily correlated strongly with prison inﬂation and thatdiversity prevails which makes it diﬃcult to generalize longer prison sentences - more overcrowding
assumptions125.
Reports from many country underline then that over the last decades the public became morepunitive, less supportive of rehabilitation and demands for tougher responses to crime126. Demand forpunishment becomes visible in the increase in long term prison sentences127. In fact, in many criminal
justice systems minimum and maximum penalties have been raised and minimum sentences have been
introduced in particular for violent and sexual criminal oﬀences during the last decade128. Extended
minimum sentences will have lagged eﬀects on prison populations; their impact will be felt long after
their introduction129.
Life imprisonment in some countries has been introduced to respond to a broad range of oﬀences
going far beyond its conventional use for ﬁrst degree murder130 and expanding the group of prisoners
serving life sentences sometimes extremely131. The introduction of Truth in Sentencing policies,
123 Sekhonyane, M.: Prison reform in Africa: recent trends. CSPRI Newsletter, No. 10 April 2005.
124 Kuhn, A.: What can we do about prison overcrowding? European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research
2-4(1994), pp. 101-106, p. 104; Tournier, P.V.: The Prisons of Europe. Prison Population, Inﬂation and Prison
Overcrowding. Penal Issues 2000, pp. 6-9; see also Carter, P.: Lord Carterʼs Review of Prisons. Securing thefuture. Ministry of Justice, London 2007 noting that in England/Wales approximately 70% of the increase indemand for prison places between 1995 and 2005 resulted from changes in custody rate and sentence length.
125 Aebi, M.F., Aubusson de Cavarlay, B., Stadnic, N.: Entrées en Prison et Durées de Détention. La Diversité
péntitentiaire en Europe. Questions Pénales, Bulletin dʼInformation, 2007 - XX.2.
126 Miyazawa, S.: The politics of increasing punitiveness and the rising populism in Japanese criminal justice policy.
Punishment & Society 10(2008), pp. 47-77; Giﬀard, C., Muntingh, L.: The Eﬀect of Sentencing on the Size of theSouth African Prison Population. Newlands 2006, p. 16.
127 See for example Lambropoulou, E.: Crime, Criminal Justice and Criminology in Greece. European Journal of
Criminology 2(2005), pp. 211-247, p. 223.
128 Miyazawa, S.: opus cited, 2008, pp. 59 for Japan; Terblanche, S., Mackenzie, G.: Mandatory Sentences in South
Africa: Lessons for Australia? The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology 41(2008), pp. 402-420.
129 Terblanche, S., Mackenzie, G.: Mandatory Sentences in South Africa: Lessons for Australia? The Australian and
New Zealand Journal of Criminology
41(2008), pp. 402-420, p. 410.
130 van Zyl Smit, D.: Taking Life Imprisonment Seriously. The Hague 2002; Steinberg, J.: Prison Overcrowding andthe Constitutional Right to Adequate Accommodation in South Africa. Paper commissioned by the Centre for the
Study of Violence and Reconciliation, January 2005.
131 See Nellis, A., King, R.S.: No Exit. The Expanding Use of Life Sentences in America. Washington 2009, where it
is reported that in the United States 140.610 prisoners are serving life sentences, out of which 41,095 do not havethe possibility of parole, the highest proportion of life sentences relative is reported from California, where 20% of
the prison population is serving a life sentence.

83determinate sentencing, mandatory minimum penalties, three and two strikes laws and ultimately
the move towards a new architecture of security which assigns security a prominent role within thegoals of criminal law and criminal punishment have been interpreted as indicating a paradigm shift132.
Attention shifted away from the oﬀender and individualization of punishment to seriousness of crimeand deterrent punishment (or had never changed from being directed at punishment133). The newconcern for the victim and protection of potential victims certainly is a visible expression of suchchanges. These changes have been interpreted also as indicating a pervasive penal populism on
the side of politicians pushing for harsher penalties especially for recidivists134 and as a gap between
criminal justice practitioners and researchers interested in evaluating the substance of criminal justicepolicies on the one hand and politicians interested in sending out messages to the public on the otherhand135. But, it is rather a fragmentation of theory and politics of criminal punishment once uniformly
organized around prevention through rehabilitating and re-integrating criminal offenders whichcharacterizes today systems of criminal justice. While security orientation and punitive responses infact prevail with respect to oﬀender groups deemed dangerous and a threat to public security (suchas sexual and violent offenders), alternatives to imprisonment, community sanctions, intermediate
penalties, mediation and restorative justice approaches, most recently a new interest in designingeﬀective re-entry programs for ex-convicts still ﬁgure prominently on crime policy agendas136.
Statutory frameworks of sentencing which allow for grossly inﬂated periods of imprisonment137 andthe imposition of consecutively running prison sentences for multiple crimes add to the rise of long
prison sentences138. Particular attention should be devoted to life prison sentences and here to life
without parole139.
Placing emphasis on long prison terms and life prison sentences should not prevent to consider the
impact of short term imprisonment on capacity problems, too. Short prison sentences point toward aparticular group of oﬀenders, persistent or chronic oﬀenders, who pose special problems and resultin a heavy burden for correctional systems. The frequency of re-oﬀending and reconvictions causes
considerable costs and over the long run puts pressure on prison capacity140; moreover, persistentoﬀenders demonstrate limits of prison based rehabilitation.

2.5 Failed Alternatives to Imprisonment and Recalls for Parole Violations

Alternatives to imprisonment such as fines, day fines, community service, electronicallymonitored house arrest and probation/suspended sentences have been incorporated into systemsof criminal sanctions successfully during the last decades. Despite its abolition in some countries,
early release on parole remains an important instrument in most correctional systems. Alternatives
to imprisonment and parole, however, carry a risk of imprisonment in case of failure to pay a ﬁne,violations of conditions coming with alternatives or re-offending. Fines are particularly prone to beconverted into substitute imprisonment under conditions of poor economic circumstances and large
scale poverty. Reports from countries where extreme poverty prevails demonstrate that signiﬁcant

132 Tonry, M.: opus cited 2007, pp. 353-354.
133 Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,
Manfred Nowak, Mission to the Republic of Moldova. A/HRC/10/44/Add.3, 12 February 2009, No. 57.
134 Daems, T.: Engaging with penal populism. The case of France. Punishment & Society 9(2007), pp. 319-324.
135 Tonry, M.: Criminology, Mandatory Minimums, and Public Policy. Criminology & Public Policy 5(2006), pp. 4556, pp. 51.
136 Lynch, J.P.: Prisoner Reentry: Beyond Program Evaluation. Criminology & Public Policy 5(2006), pp. 401-412.
137 Mauer, M.: The Hidden Problem of Time Served in Prison. social research 74(2007), pp. 701-706; Blogs.ﬁndlaw.
com/blotter/2009/06/100-year-sentence-for-teen-sex-offender-with-47-iq-concurrent-sentences-fair.html;
Terreblanche, S.: Sentencing: Changes and eﬀect since 1994. www.csvr.org.za/wits/confpaps/terreblanche.htm.
138 Ashworth, A.: Sentencing and Criminal Justice. 4th ed. Cambridge 2005, pp. 248.
139 For a review of positions of the South African and Namibian Supreme Courts on life without parole see
Terreblanche, S.: Sentencing: Changes and eﬀect since 1994. www.csvr.org.za/wits/confpaps/ terreblanche.htm.
140 Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General: Managing oﬀenders on short custodial sentences HC 431 Session
2009-2010. London, 10 March 2010, p. 4.

84

numbers of oﬀenders are imprisoned because they could not pay even small ﬁnes141. Recalls to prisonof parolees have contributed in some countries to the increase of prison populations. For England/
Wales it has been observed that a growing number of prisoners are in prison because parole has been
revoked. Parole violators make up for almost 40% of prison admissions in California142. The majority of
revocations takes place after technical violations, few are the result of further oﬀending143. Researchshows also that changes in revocation patterns are rather explained by changes in the sensitivity
towards parole violations than to changes in the actual behavior of parolees144. In face of clear evidence
that returning parolees to prison for technical violations of parole (which essentially will be theconsequence of the intensity of supervision) will not lead to a decrease in recidivism145, particularattention should be given to the statutory framework of revocation of suspended sentences and parole.
Poor and unsettled oﬀenders turn out to fuel prison inﬂation in diﬀerent contexts. In developing
countries poverty is at the core of the problem of failure due to persons not being able to pay evenmall amounts of ﬁnes or bail. Sanction systems which do not provide for alternatives to alternatives tocustody are doomed to fail in the attempt to overcrowding relief. In the European context unsettled
offenders are equated with immigrants, in particular illegal immigrants. This group of unsettled
offenders is often assessed to be not suited for alternative or community penalties as (illegal)
immigrants do not exhibit strong bonds to the community and therefore are perceived as particularrisks in decisions on pretrial detention and in decisions on alternatives to imprisonment.

2.6 Pretrial Detention

Root causes of overcrowding then have been identiﬁed in statutory frameworks and practices ofpretrial detention. Signiﬁcant proportions of unsentenced detainees at the prison population at large
are observed in some regions146. The information on display in table 1 above certainly demonstrates
that there is a strong and significant correlation between pretrial detention and the extent ofovercrowding. However, the strength of the correlation varies along countries (and regions). The
correlation between pretrial correlation and overcrowding may be explained by diﬀerent factors.
First, it may be a delay in processing cases through the system which keeps pretrial detainees
behind bars for lengthy periods of times 147. Such delays may be the consequence of legal andprocedural problems, but also a result of practices which do not consider adequately needs to deﬁne
priorities in clearing backlogs of cases.
Second, a high share of pretrial detainees may be caused by criminal courts making excessive useof pretrial detention. This again may be a result of a statutory framework which does not provide forviable alternatives to pretrial detention or a result of practices which despite available alternatives do
not make adequate use of such instruments148.

141 www.pﬁ.org/Home/Centre for Justice and Reconciliation/News/Partnership for Addressing Prison Overcrowding
in South Africa.
142 Legislative Analysts̀s Oﬃce: Prison Overcrowding - An Overview On Construction and Rehabilitation. Senate
Public Safety Committee February 19, 2008 p. 5.
143 Padﬁeld, N., Maruna, S.: The revolving door at the prison gate: Exploring the dramatic increase in recalls toprison. Criminology and Criminal Justice 6(2006), pp. 329-352, pp. 330-332.
144 Reitz, K.: Questioning the Conventional Wisdom of Parole Release Authority. In: Tonry, M. (ed.): The Future of
Imprisonment in the 21st Century. New York 2004, pp. 199-235; Padﬁeld, N., Maruna, S.: opus cited, 2006, pp.
337.
145 Petersilia, J., Turner, S.: Intensive Probation and Parole. In: Tonry, M. (ed.): Crime and Justice. An Annual
Review of Research, Vol. 19, Chicago 1993, pp. 281-335.
146 Zepeda Lecuona, G.: Myths of Pretrial Detention in Mexico. Monterrey 2005, p. 7; Schönteich, M.: The Scale
and Consequences of Pretrial Detention around the World. In: Open Society Institute (ed.): Justice Initiatives.
Pretrial Detention. New York 2008, pp. 11-43.
147 ICRC: Philippines: protecting life and dignity in places of detention. ICRC Bulletin No. 01/2010, 3 February 2010.

85

2.7 Summary: The Need for Country Specific Research

Research has dealt with various approaches to explain increases (to a lesser extent decreases)
in prison populations. Increases in prisoner rates are commonly linked to a growth in the demandfor punishment. Public opinion has been seen to be crucial in understanding the increase in prison
populations in some countries149. However, it is evident that the course of imprisonment and the trends
in the size of prison populations do not follow a common set of variables or conditions. Developments
in prison populations and overcrowding are diverse and reﬂect - as Tonry/Farrington recently havepointed out - idiosyncracies which necessitate careful analysis of individual national systems of criminal
justice150. Research on prison overcrowding (speciﬁcally: on the increase and decrease in the size ofprison populations) has demonstrated that those conditions aﬀecting the size of the prison population
are manifold and diﬀer from system to system. Such conditions vary along historical, legal, economic
and cultural particulars. They are dependent on past experiences and speciﬁc political structures. In
a recent analysis of US prison data covering the period 1977 to 2005 Spelman concluded that the best
predictors of the size of prison populations are crime, sentencing policy, prison overcrowding andstate spending (on prisons)151. Prison overcrowding thus may be part of the onset of a political process
where due to a lack of imagination of other options than building new prisons spending on prisons
results in a dynamic which reiterates political decisions and at the same time boosts the potential forovercrowding. The conclusion that the massive prison built up in the United States was not inevitable(and with that the overcrowding problems coming with it) is underlined by the successful reductionof the institutional population of the mentally ill in the 1970s and 1980s (through providing federal
ﬁnancial incentives for deinstitutionalization policies) and points to the crucial role of decisions made in
the political system152.
Policy recommendations addressing measures against prison overcrowding therefore should bebased on careful analysis of individual systems and cover the pretrial phase, in particular pretrial
detention, sentencing (and factors influencing sentence length), post adjudication and post releasedecision making (including also pardon and amnesty practices). Substantive knowledge on how
offenders are processed, information on sentencing and on post adjudication processes as well as
correctional decision-making is needed in order to tailor policies to the speciﬁc conﬁgurations found ina speciﬁc country. Cross-cultural research on crime, punishment and corrections, however, indicatesthat national data sources exhibit fundamental problems and inadequacies 153, which make it diﬃcult (ifnot impossible) to draw and to generalize conclusions.
What remains also unaccounted for concerns the questions why prison populations remain stableor decrease and why criminal justice systems evidently do not learn from past experiences. Prison
overcrowding refers to an old policy and research issue. As early as in the 1970s (when in particular
new criminal oﬀence statutes and long prison sentences imposed for drug oﬀences resulted in a waveof admissions to prison facilities) research has focused on the problem of overcrowding and how to
respond to overcrowding. There is a wealth of research reports and policy proposals, all of whichbasically suggest the same remedies (against prison overcrowding as well as against prison inﬂation) 154.

148 See for example Commission on Human Rights: Report of the Special Rapporteur, Manfred Nowak. Addendum.
Follow-up to the recommendations made by the Special Rapporteur. sits to Azerbaijan, Brazil, Cameroon, Chile,
Mexico, Romania, the Russian Federation, Spain, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Venezuela. E/CN.4/2006/6/Add.2,
21 March 2006, pp. 53-54, where it is stated that despite the possibility to release suspects on bail and public
approval of such measures, release on bail is very rarely used in practice.
149 Freiberg, A., Gelb, K.: Penal populism, sentencing councils and sentencing policy. In: Freiberg, A., Gelb, K.
(eds.): Penal Populism, Sentencing Councils and Sentencing Policy. Cullompton 2008, pp. 1-14, p. 3.
150 Tonry, M., Farrington, D.P.: Punishment and Crime across Space and Time. In: Tonry, M., Farrington, D.P.
(eds.): Crime and Punishment in Western Countries, 1980 - 1999. Crime and Justice. A Review of Research. Vol.
33, Chicago, London 2005, pp. 1-39.
151 Spelman, W.: Crime, cash, and limited options: Explaining the prison boom. Criminology & Public Policy 8(2009),
pp. 29-77.
152 Spelman, W.: opus cited, 2009, p. 73.
153 Tonry, M., Farrington, D.P: opus cited, 2005, p. 11.

86However, despite the calls for alternatives to imprisonment, better rehabilitation programs, alternative
measures for drug addicts and the mentally ill, less reliance on imprisonment and the recognition of
the last resort principles, policy makers sometimes adopt instruments which propel criminal justicesystems deeper into capacity problems. So, for example in the 1990s, the impact of three strike laws
and harsher sentencing in general on the Californian criminal justice system was correctly predicted155.
Research predicted huge costs and few returns in the form of more security156. In general, it iswell established through research that prison does not pay off in terms of less recidivism or moredeterrence compared with alternatives to imprisonment157. However, it was only after the ﬁnancial
burden became too heavy and courts started to demand for immediate and eﬀective reductions of theprison population that politicians initiated signiﬁcant changes. In fact, there do not seem to exist many
windows of opportunity for passing knowledge from research to the political system 158 in order todevelop evidence based correctional policies.

3. Effects of Overcrowded PrisonsOvercrowded prisons have a negative impact on all conditions of imprisonment and intended
consequences of imprisonment159. Several eﬀects of overcrowding may be distinguished. Overcrowding
results first of all in a restricted living space and associated losses of privacy and human dignity(which will in turn aﬀect trust and conﬁdence of prisoners in the legitimacy of prison regimes). Then,overcrowding may result in a reduction of general services to be provided in a prison facility in order
to comply with standards set for access to medical treatment, sanitary equipment and educational,
training or rehabilitative programs160. Rehabilitative needs may be aﬀected also through assigning low
risk prisoners to maximum security units because other prison space is not available161. In particular substandard medical treatment and an environment prone to the spread of infectious diseases have been
noted in this context162. As prison populations exhibit higher rates of certain infectious diseases, insome world regions these include besides HIV and hepatitis (b, c) in particular tuberculosis, programs
to deliver eﬀective treatment are impeded as are policies to prevent the transmission of diseases within
the prison itself163; after release from prison of course, the threat of further transmission extends to
the general public164.
154 Petersilia, J.: Inﬂuencing public policy: an embedded criminologist reﬂects on California prison reform. Journal of
Experimental Criminology 4(2008), pp. 335-356.
155 Parent, D., Dunworth, T., McDonald, D., Rhodes, W.: Key Legislative Issues in Criminal Justice: Mandatory
Sentencing. National Institute of Justice, Washington, January 1997, p. 4.
156 Stolzenberg, L., DʼAlessio, S.J.: Three Strikes and Youʼre Out : The Impact of Californiaʼs New Mandatory
Sentencing Law on Serious Crime Rates. Crime Delinquency 43(1997), pp. 457-469.
157 von Hirsch, A., Bottoms, A., Burney, E., Wikstroem, P.-O.: Criminal Deterrence and Sentence Severity: ananalysis of recent research. Oxford 1999; Shepherd, J.: The Imprisonment Puzzle: Understanding How Prison
Growth Aﬀects Crime. Criminology & Public Policy 5(2006), pp. 285-298, p. 285; Aos, S., Miller, M., Drake, E.:
Evidence-Based Public Policy. Options to Reduce Future Prison Construction, Criminal Justice Costs, and Crime
Rates. State Institute for Public Policy, Washington 2006; Marsh, K., Fox, C., Hedderman, C.: Do You Get What
You Pay for? Assessing the Use of Prison from an Economic Perspective. The Howard Journal for Penal Reform48(2009), pp. 144-158.
158 Tonry, M.: opus cited, 2006, p. 54.
159 Fry, L.J.: Continuities in the determination of prison overcrowding eﬀects. Journal of Criminal Justice 16(1988),
pp. 231-242.
160 Walmsley, R.: Prison health care and the extent of prison overcrowding. International Journal of Prisoner Health1(2005), pp. 9 - 12.
161 Petersilia, J.: Understanding California Corrections: Summary. UC Irving Center for Evidence Based Corrections
2006, p. 2.
162 Sarkin, J.: An overview of human rights in prisons worldwide. In: Sarkin, J. (ed.): Human Rights in African
Prisons. Capetown 2008, pp. pp. 1-39, p. 19; Human Rights Council: Seventh session. Agenda item 3. Reportof the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Manfred
Nowak. Addendum, Mission to Indonesia. A/HRC/7/3/Add.7 10 March 2008, p. 13.
163 Winarso, I., et al.: Indonesian National Strategy for HIV/AIDS control in prisons: A public health approach for
prisoners. International Journal of Prisoner Health 2(2006), pp. 243 - 249
164 Declaration on Principles of Cooperation Between Prison Health and Public Health Services and Development of a
Safer Society. Adopted during the 6th Partnership Annual Conference on 25 November 2009, Oslo, Norway, p. 3.

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Small prison health budgets, a high share of prisoners with infectious diseases (especially drug
offenders) and overcrowding reinforce each other165. Higher rates of suicide have been assumed tofollow conditions of overcrowding166. The fall of staﬀ/inmate ratios may have adverse consequences
for personal security, the implementation of prison visits and the admission to prison leave programs.
A negative impact on family visits and an infringement on the right to family life (see for example Art.
8 ECHR) may come as a side eﬀect of overcrowding relief policies which result in the transfer feom
overcrowded facilities to less crowded but far away prisons167. Higher levels of prison violence indeed
have been reported from many countries168. The General Rapporteur in a report on the prison situationin Paraguay has hinted to a prison where 3,000 detainees are guarded by 40 guards per shift and has
pointed to severe safety problems coming through inter-prisoner violence, but also through uncontrolled
drug traﬃcking within prison walls169.
Overcrowding in some instances is associated with the overuse of prison sentences and thus
associated with imprisoning a larger share of - normally - young men from minority groups anddisadvantaged neighborhoods170. In particular, mass imprisonment is considered to impact heavily
on the uneducated and poor groups in a society and its major effect has been perceived to be thereinforcement of social inequality 171. Overuse of imprisonment results in re-entry problems andcommunities burdened with a high rate of ex-convicts 172 and exposed to erosion of the capacity of
informal control173. iIt has been assumed also that serving a prison sentence under conditions ofovercrowding may increase the risk of re-oﬀending upon release174.
Overcrowding then aﬀects prison staﬀ with working conditions that create stress and situations of
non-compliance of international and national standards of accommodating prisoners175. Overcrowding
is linked to violations of normative standards and statutory law. Separation principles, in particularseparation of sentenced and remand prisoners, juvenile detainees and adult prisoners, are sometimes
at risk of being not complied with.

165 The PEW Center on States: opus cited, 2008, p. 12.
166 The Howard League for Penal Reform: Brieﬁng paper on prison overcrowding and suicide. October 2005; Leese
M, Thomas S., Snow L.: An ecological study of factors associated with rates of self-inﬂicted death in prisons in
England and Wales. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry 29(2006), pp. 355-360; however, see also Fazel, S.,
Grann, M., Kling, B., Hawton, K.: Prison suicide in 12 countries: an ecological study of 861 suicides during 20032007. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 45(2010, published online) who do not ﬁnd a correlation
between overcrowding and suicide rates.
167 Memorandum from The Prison Reform Trust. www.parliament.uk.
168 Baker, J. et al.: opus cited, 2002, pp. 33-34.
169 Human Rights Council: Seventh session. Item 3 of the agenda. Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture andother cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Manfred Nowak. Addendum. Mission to Paraguay.
A/HRC/7/3/Add.3, 1 October 2007, p. 18.
170 Petersilia, J.: When Prisoners Return to the Community: Political, Economic, and Social Consequences.
Sentencing & Corrections. Issues for the 21st Century. National Institute of Justice, Washington 2000.
171 Western, B.: Mass Imprisonment and Economic Inequality. social research 74(2007), pp. 509-532, p. 530.
172 Mukamal, D.A.: Introduction: Consequences of a Carceral State. social research 74(2007), pp. 569-573.
173 Clear, T.R., Rose, D.R.: When Neighbors Go to Jail: Impact on Attitudes About Formal and Informal Social
Control. National Institute of Justice, Washington 1999.
174 Steinberg, J.: Prison overcrowding and the constitutional right to adequate accommodation in South
Africa. Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, Capetown 2005, p. 7.
175 International Centre for Criminal Law reform and Criminal Justice Policy: International Prison Policy Development
Instrument. Vancouver 2001; Baker, J. et al.: opus cized, 2002, pp. 36; The Correctional Investigator Canada:
Annual Report of the Oﬃce of the Correctional Investigator 2008-2009. Ottawa 2009, p. 31.

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4. Addressing Prison Overcrowding Effectively
4.1 Overcrowding and Remedies Against Overcrowding: Well Known Agendas

Overcrowding has been on international and national policy agenda since decades. Insofar, it does
not come as a surprise that strategies to reduce overcrowding have been extensively discussed andwidely disseminated176. In general, approaches to deal with prison overcrowding refer to reduction ofadmissions to prison and detention and reduction in the length of the stay177.
Strategies to achieve the goals of reductions in admissions and length of stay include the use ofalternatives to penal prosecution (diversion), the recognition of restorative justice approaches, theuse of traditional justice, decriminalization, reducing the numbers of unsentenced prisoners througheﬀective o-operation between the police, the prison services and the courts to ensure speedy trials
and effective case management, recognition of the last resort principle, better access to defense
councils and greater use of paralegals in the criminal process, setting targets for reducing the prison
population, increased use of proven effective alternatives, imposition of sentences of imprisonment
only for the most serious oﬀences and as a last resort and for the shortest time possible, considerationof prison capacity when determining decisions to imprison and the length and terms of imprisonment,
implementation of early and conditional release schemes, promotion of promising models for
replication, promotion of regional and international Charters on Prisoners' Rights, pushing the political
will to change and reform178. Operation of prison systems within the limits of officially establishedprison capacity usually is also explained by complying with and implementing the above mentioned
strategies and guidelines179.
Full consent then seems to exist on a two pronged approach of implementation which on the one
hand identiﬁes the measures with which to reduce/combat etc. prison overcrowding and on the other
hand gets the measures accepted . Of course, strategies have to be implemented and the key
players must understand, must be convinced , must be helped to understand (the cost of prisons)180,
however, the course prison overcrowding takes during the last decades and in particular in recent
years underline that criminal justice and prison policy is dependent on political will and social andeconomic conditions which evidently provide for diﬀerential structures of opportunities. Overcrowding
evidently is recognized and understood to represent a grave problem; however, policy options whichinflate prison populations are obviously more attractive. Overcrowded prisons and prison reform
are not dealt with as priority issues in political systems181. Moreover, cultural contexts have to beconsidered when developing policies to deal with overcrowded prisons. Solutions to overcrowding haveto deal with the complexity of the decision making processes which have generated overcrowding182.
Such complexities are certainly due to the elaborate normative structure which determines limits ofpowers of individual state actors and fragmentizes criminal justice. Insofar, proposals to address prison
176 See for example Report on the Conference to Develop Strategies to Combat Overcrowded Prisons. Held at
Pretoria/Tshwane from 14 to 16 September 2005; European Federation of Public Service Unions,Trade Unionsand Prison Services in Europe: Seminar on 19 May 2005, Luxembourg Discussion Document. Brussels 2005;
Dankwa, V.: Overcrowding in African Prisons. In: Sarkin, J. (ed.): Human Rights in African Prisons. Capetown
2008, pp. 83-92, p. 89.
177 The PEW Center on States: One in 100: Behind Bars in America 2008. Washington 2008, p. 20.
178 Ouagadougou Declaration and Plan of Action on Accelerating Prison and Penal Reforms in Africa, Wed, 25 Feb
2004; Taylor Griﬃths, C., Murdoch, D.J.: Strategies and Best Practices against Overcrowding in Correctional
Institutions. The International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy, Vancouver 2009.
179 Kitada, M.: Prison Population in Asian Countries: Facts, Trends and Solutions. United Nations Programme
Network Institutes Technical Assistance Workshop,: World Prison Population: Facts, Trends and Solutions.
Vienna, May 10, 2001, pointing to strict observation of law and speedy processing of cases, restricted use of
pretrial detention, effective use of alternatives to imprisonment and parole as an explanation of the lack ofovercrowding in the Japanese prison system.
180 See for example Walmsley, R.: opus cited 2003, p. 75.
181 Sekhonyane, M.: Prison reform in Africa: recent trends. CSPRI Newsletter No 10 April 2005.
182 Kaufman, G.: The National Prison Overcrowding Project: Policy Analysis and Politics, a New Approach. The
ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 1985; 478; pp. 161 - 172, p. 162.

89

overcrowding on the basis of a system-wide approach183, rather than one centered only on the prison
system alone, are limited. Comprehensive approaches, furthermore, generate and boost the very
complexity they are intended to deal with.

4.2 Normative Guidelines

Prisons and other places of deprivation of liberty fall under a normative framework of national andinternational law on the basis of which overcrowding and its implications for prisoner human rights
situations are evaluated. International human rights instruments such as the International Covenant
on Political and Civil Rights and the UN Convention Against Torture contain prohibitions of inhumanand degrading punishment and treatment as do regional human rights instruments like the European
Convention on Human Rights (Art. 3), the European Convention Against Torture, the American
Convention on Human Rights (Art. 5) or the African Charter on Human and Peopleʼs Rights (Art. 5).
Hard international law is supplemented by soft law which comes in the form of Minimum Standards,
recommendations, moreover the United Nations have published Best Practice Handbooks which shallprovide for guidance in developing and implementing prison reform and alternatives to imprisonment.
Apart from norms which give human dignity and the prohibition of cruel, inhuman and degrading
punishment a central place in the operation of prisons and prison reform, international instruments
contain other rules which are of relevance for developing responses to overcrowding. Among suchrules the last resort principle when it comes to imprisonment certainly plays a signiﬁcant role as
it expresses (for example in the Child Convention or in the UN Standard Minimum Rules for NonCustodial Measures) a clear message that deprivation of liberty must be speciﬁcally justiﬁed and should
not be used as routine punishment. Furthermore, the United Nations Conventions, Standards andGuidelines give clear priority to the goal of rehabilitation; they embrace a set of procedural principles
which adopt relevance in the context of overcrowding (pretrial detention as a last resort, presumptionof innocence, speedy trial rules etc.).
Implementation of international law is monitored by human rights bodies and Special Rapporteurson the basis of regular state reports, country visits and individual complaints. National prison law
contains in various forms mechanisms which shall allow for transparency and independent supervisionof prison conditions. It is certainly not surprising that overcrowding plays a prominent role on theagenda of international and national actors in the ﬁelds of human rights, crime and security policy andprison reform.
There is no shortage of proposals as to which remedies are available to reduce prison overcrowding.
The Council of Europe has issued a fully elaborated set of recommendations with respect to responses
to prison overcrowding as early as 1999184. Recommendations as regards prison overcrowding are partof the Kampala Declaration and various other documents. These recommendations reiterate many
principles which have been outlined in United Nation Conventions, Standards and Rules. A common
perspective concerns that prison overcrowding and prison population growth represent a major
challenge to prison administrations and the criminal justice system (in terms of human rights and of theeﬃcient management of penal institutions). Reference is made then to factors driving prison growthsuch as the crime situation in general, system of criminal sanctions and sentencing practices favoring
imprisonment, community sanctions, pretrial detention practices, effectiveness of criminal justiceand public attitudes. The need for embedding measures aimed at combating prison overcrowding in a
183 See for example Penal Reform in Africa: Index on good practices in reducing pre-trial detention. PRI 2005,
stressing the need for participation of all agencies in the criminal justice system.
184 Recommendation No. R (99) 22 of the Committee of Ministers to Member States Concerning Prison Overcrowding
and Prison Population Inﬂation; these recommendations are part of a series of recommendations geared towards
regulation of alternatives to imprisonment and acceptable conditions of detention: Recommendation Rec(2000)22
on improving the implementation of the European rules on community sanctions and measures, Recommendation
Rec(2003)22 on conditional release (parole), Recommendation Rec(2003)23 on the management by prison
administrations of life sentence and other long-term prisoners, Recommendation Rec(2006)2 on the European
Prison Rules, Recommendation Rec(2006)8 on assistance to crime victims and Recommendation Rec(2006)13 on
the use of remand in custody, the conditions in which it takes place and the provision of safeguards against abuse.

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coherent and rational crime policy is stressed. Particular attention is paid to the basic principles of ruleof law and democracy while underlining also the need for support by criminal justice practitioners andthe public and ﬁnally also the need for balanced information on the eﬀectiveness of criminal punishment
and the reality of prisons. When it comes to concrete recommendations, a standard principle concerns
classiﬁcation of prison sentences as a last resort restricted to crimes of a degree of seriousness which
would make any other sanction clearly inadequate . Prison construction programs as a response to
overcrowding are considered exceptional measures which do not oﬀer a lasting solution to a situation of
overcrowding. Indeed, experiences made in the US and in England/Wales underline the salience of thisrecommendation185. Recommendations then concern the provision for a range of community sanctions(or alternatives of imprisonment such as probation, suspended prison sentences with conditions
attached, electronically monitored house arrest (intensive probation), victim-offender-reconciliationand community service) as well as decriminalization or downgrading certain types of oﬀences so thatthey do not attract prison sentences. Lengthy prison sentences should be reduced as far as possible
while short term imprisonment should be replaced by community sanctions. It is recommended also
to consider treatment obligations in appropriate cases. From a practical perspective it is evident thata maximum capacity should be deﬁned for every penal institution. Coping with prison overcrowding
should be guided ﬁrst of all by a clear consideration of human rights and minimum standards as regards
accommodation of prisoners. Enforcement of prison sentences allow for the use of modalities suchas open prison regimes, prison leave, electronically monitored house arrest and may be used also
to compensate for hardships coming with prison overcrowding (contacts with the outside world).
Particular emphasis is laid on alternatives for pretrial detention; diversion and out-of court settlementof cases are mentioned. It is then interesting to note that prosecutors and judges are encouraged tobear in mind prison capacity when applying and deciding on the criminal sentence. But of course,
individual sentencing decisions cannot be made dependent on the availability of prison space. The
legislators are then encouraged to set sentencing rationales which are suited to enhance the useof community sanctions instead of prison sentences and to consider carefully the role of mitigating
and aggravating factors, in particular the role of previous convictions in the decision on criminal
punishment. The role of community sanctions and measures is highlighted and attention is drawn
to making such sanctions credible alternatives to short terms of imprisonment. Credibility is seen
also as being dependent on their eﬀective implementation, in particular through the provision of theinfrastructure for the execution and monitoring of such community sanctions, not least in order to give
judges and prosecutors conﬁdence in their eﬀectiveness; conﬁdence then refers to the development
and use of reliable risk-prediction and risk-assessment techniques as well as supervision strategies,
with a view to identifying the oﬀender's risk to relapse and to ensuring public protection and safety.
Individualized measures, such as early conditional release (parole) are assessed to be superior overcollective measures for the management of prison overcrowding (amnesties, collective pardons). In
particular, parole is regarded as one of the most eﬀective measures in attempts to reduce the lengthof imprisonment and smooth return of the oﬀender to the community. Eﬀects are also expected from
effective programs for treatment during detention and for supervision and treatment after release
which should contribute to facilitating rehabilitation of oﬀenders and reducing recidivism.
In fact, revolving door problems and high rates of recidivism after imprisonment still pose many
problems which are not solved186. In particular the question under what conditions prison regimes may
reduce the risk of re-oﬀending (and subsequent prison sentences) needs to be answered187.

4.3 The Public, Imprisonment and Prison Overcrowding

Research rarely addresses public attitudes towards prison overcrowding and acceptable instruments
to resolve such problems. In general, it was found that the public is not interested in prison policy188.
185 See in particular Spelman, W.: opus cited, 2009.
186 O'Donnell, I., Baumer, E.P., Hughes, N.: Recidivism in the Republic of Ireland. Criminology and Criminal Justice8(2008), pp. 123-146.
187 Gottfredson, D.M.: Eﬀects of Judges Sentencing Decisions on Criminal Careers. Washington, National Institute ofJustice 1999.
188 Conrad, J.: Corrections and Its Constituencies. Prison Journal 64(1984), pp. 47-55.

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The constituency for prisons is evidently narrow, specialized and not influential. A study from the
1980s revealed for the United States that substantive support was voiced for community sanctions
and good time policies in prisons. The public rather disapproved prison construction programs aswell as more discretionary power for parole boards and rejects reduction in sentence length189. The
International crime survey provides for comparative attitudes on sentencing. The data for 2005 showthat there is a divide with some regions favoring community service over imprisonment190 while othershow signiﬁcant support for imprisonment191. On the other hand public opinion in Europe certainly does
not adopt the view that more imprisonment will reduce crime192.

4.4 Responding to Prison Overcrowding: What Works and What is Promising?

4.4.1 Recommendations and General Restraints
There are certainly no states of denial on the side of states and criminal justice officials when it
comes to recognizing overcrowding problems. State parties to human rights instruments usuallyacknowledge the facts and problems found by Rapporteurs and Commissions, although sometimes
debates arise on the issue of how overcrowding should be defined. Clues for understanding the
response of states to overcrowded prisons possibly can be found in the process of monitoring andthe reactions to ﬁndings and decisions of Human Rights Courts, Commissions and Rapporteurs. The
European Court on Human Rights when dealing with situations of overcrowding ﬁrst recognized thestructural problems which are evidently behind sustained and long term overcrowding which areneither denied nor intended by the state party. The European Court encouraged the development of aneﬃcient system of complaints to the Prison Service and the authorities supervising detention facilities,
which were best placed to take appropriate measures speedily193. It is therefore rather the responses
to problems which are consented which are interesting and which possibly can provide for clues as towhy overcrowding persists and available strategies of problem solving are not implemented.
When looking at recommendations of the Special Rapporteur provided in situations of serious
prison overcrowding we ﬁnd the advise to design and implement comprehensive structural reformsof the prison system, aimed at reducing the number of detainees, increasing prison capacities andmodernizing prison facilities, to remove non-violent offenders from pretrial detention facilities andto increase the use of non-custodial measures194. Proposals stress particularly an adequate statutory
framework which helps avoiding unnecessary detention prior to trial through providing for alternatives
to detention in the form of bail and other measures and the encouragement of judicial practices which
prevent non-violent and less serious or petty oﬀences from being eligible for pretrial detention195. Plans
to build additional prisons ﬁnd support196 as ﬁnd support collective pardons or amnesties (focused on
189 Skovron, S.E., Scott, J.E., Cullen, F.T.: Prison Crowding: Public Attitudes Toward Strategies of Population
control. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 25(1988), pp. 150-169.
190 See also Proos, I., Pettai, I.: Attitudes of Georgia's population towards crime and penal policy. Institute of Social
Studies and Analysis, Georgia 2009.
191 Dijk, J., van Kesteren, J., Smit, P.: Criminal Victimisation in International Perspective. Key ﬁndings from the
2004-2005 ICVS and EU ICS. The Hague 2007, p. 147.
192 See Irish Penal Reform Trust: Public Attitudes To Prison February 2007. TNS mrbi/155055/Irish Penal Reform
Trust - Public Attitudes to Prison/February 2007; McAuley, M., Macdonald, K.I.: Russia and Youth Crime. A
Comparative Study of Attitudes and their Implications. British Journal of Criminology 47(2007), pp. 2-22, p. 2;
Proos, I., Pettai, I.: Attitudes of Georgia's population towards crime and penal policy. Institute of Social Studies
and Analysis, Georgia 2009.
193 European Court of Human Rights, Judgment as of 22 October 2009 in the cases Orchowski v. Poland (application
no. 17885/04) and Norbert Sikorski v. Poland (no. 17599/05)
194 Human Rights Council: Seventh session. Agenda item 3. Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and othercruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Manfred Nowak. Mission to Sri Lanka. A/HRC/7/3/
Add.6, 26 February 2008, pp. 25-26; Human Rights Council: Tenth session. Agenda item 3. Report of theSpecial Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Manfred Nowak.
Addendum Follow-Up to the Recommendations Made by the Special Rapporteur. Visits to China, Georgia, Jordan,
Nepal, Nigeria and Togo, A/HRC/10/44/Add.5, 17 February 2009, p. 32.
195 Human Rights Council: Tenth session. Agenda item 3. Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture andother cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Manfred Nowak. Addendum Follow-Up to the92non-violent oﬀenders and suspects of petty crimes) which are assessed to respond to the most pressing
problems of overcrowding197. Apparently, non-violent ﬁrst time oﬀenders are perceived to represent
candidates for non-custodial measures198. However, there is also evidence that petty oﬀences in somecountries contribute to the burden of prison systems199. With respect to drunk or disorderly conduct,
prostitution and the like, downgrading to administrative oﬀences, which do not carry prison sentences,seems a rational solution.
Within the he European context of overcrowded prisons the CPT has voiced concern for both,the extensive use of long term imprisonment and short prison sentences. Concern for short term
imprisonment is based on perceptions of adverse effects of short periods of detention in prison andadvantages of community sanctions200. It is then in particular those prison conditions which are deemed
to provide for opportunities of adequate rehabilitation that attract attention from the viewpoint of
human rights201.
Many countries ﬁnd themselves today in an economic and ﬁnancial situation which does not allow
the allocation of substantial resources for prison construction programs. Faced with the question
where to invest seriously limited resources, prisons have the lowest priority. It has been argued
that it is practically impossible to receive loans for prison construction from international financial
institutions202 which reduces options available for the most debt and poverty plagued countries
severely. According to debt relief programming of the International Monetary Fund among the 42
Heavily Indebted Countries 32 are African 203. However, most of the recommendations found in
documents of the General Rapporteur and other actors do not require particular funding. Revisionof sentencing statutes, early release and parole procedures, alternatives to pretrial detention andimprisonment etc are rather dependent on political will.
4.4.2 Organization, Intelligence and Financial Incentives
Recommendations Made by the Special Rapporteur. Visits to China, Georgia, Jordan, Nepal, Nigeria and Togo,
A/HRC/10/44/Add.5, 17 February 2009, p. 83-84; Human Rights Council: Seventh session. Item 3 of the agenda.
Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,
Manfred Nowak. Addendum. Mission to Paraguay, A/HRC/7/3/Add.3, 1 October 2007, p. 17, referring to a casea detainee who had spent one and a half years in pretrial detention on suspicion of having stolen a bicycle; seealso Michigan Task Force on Jail and Prison Overcrowding Task Force on Jail and Prison Overcrowding Presents
Report. April 22, 2005.
196 Committee against Torture: Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 19 of theConvention. Second periodic report of States parties due in 1997; the present report is submitted in response to
the list of issues (CAT/C/KHM/Q/2) transmitted to the State party pursuant to the optional reporting procedure(A/62/44, paras. 23 and 24), Cambodia. CAT/C/KHM/2, 2 February 2010, pp. 7-8.
197 Committee Against Torture: Conclusions and recommendations of the Committee against Torture (Concluding
Observations/Comments10-21 November 2003) Cameroon. CAT/C/CR/31/6, 05/02/2004.
198 Commission on Human Rights: Sixty-second session. Item 11 (a) of the provisional agenda. Report of the Special
Rapporteur, Manfred Nowak. Addendum. Follow-up to the recommendations made by the Special Rapporteur.
Visits to Azerbaijan, Brazil, Cameroon, Chile, Mexico, Romania, the Russian Federation, Spain, Turkey,
Uzbekistan and Venezuela, E/CN.4/2006/6/Add.2 21 March 2006, p. 10, pp.44-45.
199 Dankwa, V.: opus cited, 2009, p. 85.
200 Report to the Government of the United Kingdom on the visit to the United Kingdom carried out by the European
Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 18
November to 1 December 2008. Strasbourg, 8 December 2009, pp. 20-22; see also the response of the United
Kingdom.
201 Report by Mr Alvaro Gilo-Robles, Commissioner for Human Rights, on the Eﬀective Respect for Human Rights inFrance Following his Visit from 5 to 21 September 2005 for the attention of the Committee of Ministers and theParliamentary Assembly. CommDH(2006)2, Strasbourg, 15 February, 2006 p. 22.
202 Committee Against Torture: Thirty-seventh session 6-24 November 2006 Consideration of Reports Submitted by
States Parties Under Article 19 of the Convention. Conclusion and recommendations of the Committee against
Torture (Extracts for follow-up) Guyana (State Partyʼs Response).
203 International Monetary Fund: Factsheet. Debt Relief Under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC)
Initiative. February 18, 2010.

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Responding to overcrowded prisons will be dependent on a range of issues related to organization,knowledge and information as well ﬁscal infrastructures and budgeting.
Allocation of political responsibility for prisons to the Ministry of Justice instead of the Ministry of
the Interior has been highlighted as an important element in promoting reform of pretrial detention
and the development and increased use of alternatives to imprisonment204. The responsibility ofministries of justice for prison reform expresses the commitment to bring in line prison administration
with international norms and standards. In Russia, the signiﬁcant fall in the prison population in the
new millennium has been traced to the reform of the criminal procedure code which provided forjudicial control over investigations and prosecutions. A most signiﬁcant decision was evidently movethe power to place suspects in pretrial detention away from the prosecutor and to the courts205.
The question has been raised then whether the fiscal infrastructure may be used to cut
imprisonment and to change crime policies away from imprisonment through providing less of ﬁnancial
incentives to resort to imprisonment (or more ﬁnancial incentives to resort to non-custodial measures).
Evidence from some countries underlines the salience of a ﬁscal approach as administrative bodies will
make their decisions not least dependent on costs coming with certain measures and who will have tobear them. The structure of the ﬁnancing of prisons and alternatives of imprisonment may result in
discouraging the provision and use of community based alternatives which have to be funded by local
entities while prison and imprisonment are ﬁnanced through state budgets. This will increase of course
the total costs and should lead to a careful review of the impact respective ﬁscal structures may haveon the overall use of imprisonment206.
Analysis of overcrowding, identiﬁcation of conditions under which overcrowding emerges as well
as evaluation of approaches to contain or reduce overcrowding are in need of reliable and valid dataon police recorded crime, sentencing, the prison population and the ﬂow of cases. Demands for gooddata and proper evaluation research are not new207. However, most of the penitentiary systems do notprovide for meaningful data; moreover research on prison and imprisonment is limited, in particular
as regards research comparing various sentencing options (including imprisonment). This has beenstressed recently in a meta-analysis of empirical research comparing recidivism after custodial andcommunity sanctions208. It is particularly those sentencing options which are deemed to carry a highpotential in replacing imprisonment and responding effectively to overcrowding (suspended prison
sentences, probation and parole) which are seriously under-researched209.
Research is not evenly distributed but demonstrates concentration on a few countries. This
coincides largely with countries where prison projections have been part of an intelligence producing
process in the correctional system. Prison projections are perceived to represent an instrument which
in principle can advise and guide policy. Prison projection methodology, however, is developed andimplemented in particular in countries where overcrowding aﬀects the prison system. But, as prison
204 International Centre For Prison Studies: International Experience in Reform of Penal Management Systems. A
Report by the International Centre for Prison Studies. London 2008, No. 78.
205 International Centre for Prison Studies: opus cited 2008, No. 39.
206 Solomon, E. Allen, R.: Out of Trouble. Reducing child imprisonment in England and Wales - lessons from abroad.
Prison Reform Trust, London 2009, p. 48.
207 See Griffiths, C.: Implementing International Standards in Corrections: Challenges, Strategies and Outcomes.
The United Nations Oﬃce on Drugs and Crime (ODC) Expert Group Meeting on the Application of United Nations
Standards and Norms in Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, 10 -12 February 2003, Burgenland, Austria.
208 See Villettaz, P., Killias, M., Zoder, I.: The eﬀects of custodial vs. non-custodial sentences on re-oﬀending. A
systematic review of the state of knowledge. Campbell Collaboration Crime and Justice Group, Lausanne 2006, p.
41; see also Gendreau, P., Goggin, C., Cullen, F.T.: The eﬀects of prison sentences on recidivism. Ottawa, ON:
Correctional Service of Canada, Solicitor General Canada 1999; Smith, P., Goggin, C., Gendreau, P.: The Eﬀects
of Prison Sentences and Intermediate Sanctions on Recidivism: General Eﬀects and Individual Diﬀerences. www.
sgc.gc.ca (2002).
209 Davis, R., Rubin, J., Rabinovich, L., Kilmer, B., Heaton, P.: A synthesis of literature on the eﬀectiveness ofcommunity orders. RAND, Santa Monica 2008, pp. 21-22.

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projections and prediction methodology are in need of complete and valid data on oﬀenders as they
pass through the criminal justice system and corrections, they provide rich information on various
subpopulations within the prison system which can be used to study causes and consequences ofovercrowding.
Prison projections essentially are based on past developments in the criminal justice and prison
system, but any projection will depend on future developments in crime policies, sentencing andadministrative practices. This means that any prison population forecast will project to a certain extent
past trends which means that projections become less accurate the further out the prediction horizon
and the more instable developments in crime policies. Insofar, it does not come unexpected that alloﬃcial prison projections accessible (in England/Wales, Scotland and in the United States) predicted
during the last decade further increases in the size of the prison populations210. An analysis of prison
projections for the United States at large shows the prediction of a far faster growth of the prison
population, forecasting 2006 that the prison population will jump by 104.000 by 2009. But, the actual
increase was 40.000 less than predicted211. For California, prison projections predicted for 2010 a
prison population of some 183.000212. However, the actual prison population 2010 in California stood at
169.000213. The problem, of course, concerns unpredictable changes which aﬀect sentencing and parole
decisions214. the diﬃculty for projections of the prison population is that trends observed over a numberof years can not be assumed to continue. In England it was found that no projection made between
1990 and 1994 predicted the rapid rise in the prison population emerging since 1994215.
In spite of the limitations of prison projections, implementation of this approach will result in
information systems which can inform research, the public and politicians and thus improve the basis
for impact assessments and political discourses around sentencing and other crime related policies216.
4.4.3 Prison Construction Programs
Prison overcrowding of course reflects a situation where additional prison space evidently canserve as a measure to ensure compliance with basic standards of accommodation. Prison construction
programs or the acquisition of additional space through privatization can provide certainly relief in caseof overcrowding. However, prison construction programs are placed under restrictions as ﬁrst of all
suﬃcient funding is required (which - as was outlined earlier - will be faced with enormous problems
in many heavily indebted countries and will be virtually impossible for some). Second, additional
prison capacity may in fact worsen the problem of overcrowding in the long run217 and furthermore
reinforce a policy of reliance on imprisonment and the deprivation of liberty which does not comply
with the principle of last resort and proportionality as well as basic procedural standards, in particularpresumption of innocence and the right to a speedy trial. An advise to invest in prison construction
therefore is dependent on weighing various interests and values. Prison construction programs will
be reasonable in cases where prisons facilities are in need of complete or partial overhaul and whereconcerns of spiraling into overuse of imprisonment can be ruled out218. The recent announcementof a huge prison construction program in Italy responds also to need to modernize prison facilities
most of them built in the 19th century and is part of a comprehensive concept which includes also the
210 See for Scotland The Scottish Government: Statistics Publication Notice. Crime and Justice Series. Scottish
Prison Population Projections: 2008-2009 to 2017-2018. November 2008; The Scottish Government: Statistics
Publication Notice. Crime and Justice Series. Scottish Prison Population Projections: 2009-2010 to 2018-2019.
January 2010;
211 Pew Center on the States: Public Safety, Public Spending: Forecasting America's Prison Population, 2007-2011,
Public Safety Performance Project 2007.
212 California Department of Corrections: Adult Population Projections 2008 - 2013. Fall 2007, p. 6.
213 The PEW Center on the States: opus cited 2010, p. 7.
214 California Department of Corrections: opus cited, 2007.
215 White, P., Cullen, C.: Projections of Long Term Trends in the Prison Population to 2007, Issue 2/00, 10 February
2000.
216 See for example the request for a robust and integrated information system in Uganda Prison Service: Census of
Prisoners in 48 Central Government Prisons, 30th September 2007. Kampala 2007, p. 6.
217 See Spelman, W.: opus cited, 2009.

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implementation of alternatives to imprisonment219. In other cases, announcements of prison building
programs have resulted in criticism because of alternative measures not exhausted and new prison
designs too much focused on providing additional space and less guided by delivering adequate
rehabilitative services220.
4.4.4 Prison Litigation
As overcrowding may infringe on the basic right of human dignity as well as privacy (or theprohibition of cruel and unusual punishment) which are protected also within the prison environment
and, in the case of human dignity, may not be restricted (or suspended) 221 litigation over prison
conditions, although limited in some systems222, has become an issue of concern. Overcrowding
litigation according for example to supreme court rulings in Germany may result in compensationof prisoners for pain and suffering223. Research has dealt with the question which effects successful
overcrowding litigation might have224. Prison litigation, according to an American study leads to higher
per inmate incarceration costs, lower inmate mortality rates, and a reduction in prisoners per capita225.
In this study it was also found that those court interventions, which are associated with higher
expenditures for prisons, result in lower spending on social welfare. This suggests that the burdenof increased spending for prisons as a result of prison litigation is borne by the poor226. However, thisfinding expresses essentially that states have to make choices when budgets are prepared. Prison
litigation has resulted in California being pressured into changing prison politics. In June 2007 theDelhi High Court ordered for example the Tihar authorities to release 600 prisoners charged with
disturbing public peace, considered a relatively minor oﬀence, to reduce overcrowding in the prison227.
Prison litigation can become a means to and a part of prison reform228. As prisons and prisoner do
not have a strong constituency, strengthening inmates rights in litigation cases could be a eﬀective
tool in de-crowding prisons through the empowerment of inmates and NGOs229.
4.4.5 Decriminalization, Depenalization and Diversion
The findings on causes of overcrowding point to the relevance of developing and implementing
decriminalization and depenalization policies. In particular public order offences, but also drug
offences related to drug use - where they are in force and applied -, could be candidates for either
complete decriminalization or for transformation into administrative oﬀences which do not carry prison
218 See for example the case of Cambodia in Committee against Torture Consideration of reports submitted by States
parties under article 19 of the Convention Second periodic report of States parties due in 1997; the present report
is submitted in response to the list of issues (CAT/C/KHM/Q/2) transmitted to the State party pursuant to theoptional reporting procedure (A/62/44, paras. 23 and 24), Cambodia, 29 October 2009, No. 42.
219 www.correctionsreporter.com/2010/01/15/italy-prison-overcrowding-emergency/
220 See for example CPT: Report to the Government of the United Kingdom on the visit to the United Kingdom
carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment (CPT) from 18 November to 1 December 2008. Strasbourg 2009, p. 21 with a critical discussion of theso called ʻTitanʼ prisons.
221 Constitutional Court Berlin (VerfGH 184/07) - Decision as of 3. November 2009 (KG/LG Berlin), HRRS. Online
Zeitschrift für Höchstrichterliche Rechtsprechung zum Strafrecht http://www.hrr-strafrecht.de 10(2009), p. 472.
222 US Supreme Court in Wilson v. Seiter, 501 US 294 (1991), requiring prove of deliberate indiﬀerence on the part ofprison oﬃcials in face of overcrowded conditions.
223 (German) Supreme Court (Bundesgerichtshof), Decision as of 4. 11. 2004, III ZR 361/03.
224 Angelos, C., Jacobs, J.B.: Prison Overcrowding and the Law. The Annals of the American Academy of Politicaland Social Science. Vol. 478, Beverly Hills 1985, pp. 100-112; Levitt, S. D.: The Eﬀect of Prison Population Sizeon Crime Rates: Evidence from Prison Overcrowding Litigation. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 111(1996),
pp. 319-351.
225 Levitt, S. D.: The Effect of Prison Population Size on Crime Rates: Evidence from Prison Overcrowding
Litigation. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 111(1996), pp. 319-351.
226 Boylan, R.T., Mocan, N.H.: Intended and Unintended Consequences of Prison Reform. National Bureau of
Economic Research, Cambridge,Working Paper 15535, November 2009 (www.nber.org/papers/w15535).
227 The Telegraph, Calcutta, India, Tuesday, June 19, 2007.
228 Welsh, W.N.: Counties in Court. Jail Overcrowding and Court-Ordered Reform. Philadelphia 1995, pp. 10-18.
229 Steinberg, J.: opus cited, 2005.

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sentences.
Furthermore, reports indicate that drug addicted prisoners and the mentally ill represent insome correctional systems significant groups which not only contribute to overcrowding but also
to additional problems as regards the risk of transmitting infectious diseases. Here, diversion totreatment seems a viable option.
A promising example has been reported from Thailand where between 1993 and 2002 the numberof prisoners had tripled causing severe overcrowding problems. A solution was found in a law reformwhich changed the perspective on drug addicts who are now held to be persons in need of medical
treatment and are therefore diverted to treatment in the community or in treatment centers230. While
this approach did not completely resolve prison crowding problems, it was certainly an important step
to contain the number of prisoners on a lower level231. Addicted and mentally ill oﬀenders convicted for
non-violent oﬀences are a common and promising target for diversion policies232.
Then, restorative justice and mediation programs may be useful to reduce the length of prison
sentences. Serious efforts for reconciliation between offender and victim are in some systems
considered as mitigating factors. Such eﬀorts should take place before (or during the trial). But, it isdiﬃcult to assess the potential of restorative justice, mediation and restitution due to the absence ofevaluation research which addresses the impact of restitution, restorative justice or victim-oﬀenderreconciliation programs on sentencing and the prison population233.
Traditional or customary approaches to deal with crime certainly have a potential as an alternative
to formal criminal proceedings. Gacaca trials in Rwanda and the wide use of (informal) reconciliation
procedures in African and Asian countries demonstrate eﬀectiveness but also risks related to equal
treatment and fairness234.
4.4.6 Dealing with Pretrial Detention
The Standard Minimum Rules for Non-Custodial Measures spell out that detention pending trial
shall be used only as a last resort and for the shortest possible period of time. The rules call also forthe use of alternative measures. For children standards are even stricter than for adults235. Plentyof evidence supports the view that overcrowding in many criminal justice systems is linked to an
excessive use of pretrial detention236. The European Anti-Torture Commission has on many occasions
and for many European countries advised that it is in particular pretrial detainees who suffer fromovercrowding and related conditions of conﬁnement237. Research shows also that there is signiﬁcantregional variation as to the share of pretrial detainees at all prisoners238.
A signiﬁcant share of pretrial detainees at the prison population at large points to several issues
which can be made points of departure for approaches to reduce the number of suspects who are placed
in pretrial detention, and second, the length of time suspects spend in pretrial facilities239. Inﬂation of

230 Kittayarak, K.: Diversion Programs for Drug Addicts, Restorative Justice and New Community-based Treatment
Measures in Thailand, a paper submitted to the nineteenth International Conference of the International Society
for the Reform of Criminal Law held at Edinburgh, Scotland, 26-30 June 2005, www.isrcl.org/ Papers/2005/
kittayarak.pdf.
231 Department of Corrections, Ministry of Justice Thailand, Bangkok, 1 April 2008.
232 The PEW Center on States: opus cited, 2008, p. 18; Smith-Heisters, S.: The Nonviolent Oﬀender Rehabilitation
Act: Prison Overcrowding, Parole and Sentencing Reform (Proposition 5). Reason Foundation, Los Angeles 2008.
233 For a summary see Albrecht, H.-J.: Forschungen zur Implementation und Evaluation jugendstrafrechtlicher
Sanktionen. Zeitschrift für Jugendkriminalrecht und Jugendhilfe 3(2003), pp. 224-232.
234 Albrecht, H.-J.: Conﬂict Perspectives: Dealing with Wrongs in the Middle East. In: Albrecht, H.-J. et al (eds):
Conﬂicts and Conﬂict Resolution in Middle Eastern Societies - Between Tradition and Modernity. Berlin 2006, pp.
1-12.
235 Kiessl, H.: Die Regelwerke der Vereinten Nationen zum Jugendstrafrecht in Theorie und Praxis. Freiburg 2001.
236 Open Society Institute (ed.): Justice Initiatives. Pretrial Detention. New York 2008.

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the pretrial detainee population may be caused by a normative framework which does not provide foradequate consideration of standards set for pretrial detention or does not include those alternatives
to pretrial detention which may reduce the risk of absconding or obstruction of justice, that is bail,seizure of passport or other identity papers, notiﬁcation requirements as regards traveling, changesof residence etc., obligations to report at certain times to the office of the judge, the prosecuting
authority or police, restrictions on free movement (backed up by electronic monitoring). The use of
pretrial detention may be boosted by lengthy and ineﬀective criminal proceedings which may be due toshortcomings in procedural law or practices related to processing cases240.
It seems to be promising to place the emphasis first on the normative framework of pretrial
detention and alternatives to pretrial detention241. Of utmost importance for a normative framework
geared towards minimizing pretrial detention is the principle of proportionality and the way
proportionality is translated into the conditions set for pretrial detention. Placing a strict statutory cap
on the length of pretrial detention certainly plays a decisive role in limiting pretrial detention as doesa general clause which prevents that petty oﬀences (which will most probably result in non-custodial
sentences) will lead to detention prior to trial.
The use of pretrial detention has been tackled in Latin America systematically by introducing
penal procedure reforms aimed at reducing pretrial detention on a broad scale. While legislativereforms have in general been successful in terms of introducing new procedural provisions on pretrial
detention, the impact on pretrial detention practices has been mixed. However, on the basis of various
indicators of pretrial detention it has been concluded that reforms have been in general successful incurbing the number of those detained prior to trial242 (although a rigid empirical test of the reduction
hypothesis could not be carried out because of a lack of data). Absence of data has been cited as aground for the failure of pretrial detention reforms in Chile. The consequences of reform had beendisputed, however, the absence of data abetted a counter reform which took place before the reform
was fully implemented did not allow to communicate reform eﬀects to the public, justice practitioners
and politicians243.
237 See for example the CPT country reports for Bulgaria Report to the Bulgarian Government on the visit to
Bulgaria carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 17 to 26 April 2002. Strasbourg 2004, No. 49; for Estonia Report to theEstonian Government on the visit to Estonia carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Tortureand Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 23 to 30 September 2003. Strasbourg 2005, No.
52; for France Rapport au Gouvernement de la République française relatif à la visite eﬀectuée en France par leComité européen pour la prévention de la torture et des peines ou traitements inhumains ou dégradants (CPT) du
27 septembre au 9 octobre 2006, Strasbourg 2007, No. 145; for Italy Rapport au Gouvernement de lʼItalie relatifà la visite eﬀectuée en Italie par le Comité européen pour la prévention de la torture et des peines ou traitements
inhumains ou dégradants (CPT) du 21 novembre au 3 décembre 2004, Strasbourg 2006, No. 71; for Poland Reportto the Polish Government on the visit to Poland carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of
Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 4 to 15 October 2004. Strasbourg
2006, No. 80; for England/Wales Report to the Government of the United Kingdom on the visit to the United
Kingdom and the Isle of Man carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhumanor Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 12 to 23 May 2003. Strasbourg 2005, No. 16.
238 Schönteich, M.: The Scale and Consequences of Pretrial Detention around the World. In: Open Society Institute(ed.): Justice Initiatives. Pretrial Detention. New York 2008, pp. 11-43.
239 Deltenre, S., Maes, E.: Pre-trial Detention and the Overcrowding of Prisons in Belgium. Results from a
Simulation Study into the Possible Effects of Limiting the Length of Pre-trial Detention. European Journal of
Crime, Criminal Law and Criminal Justice 12(2004), S. 348-370.
240 Human Rights Council: Tenth session. Agenda item 3. Report of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.
Addendum. Mission to Italy. A/HRC/10/21/Add.5, 26 January 2009, p. 10.
241 van Kalmthout, A.M. Knapen M.M., Morgenstern, C.: Pre-trial Detention in the European Union. An Analysis of
Minimum Standards in Pre-trial Detention and the Grounds for Regular Review in the Member States of the EU.
Nijmegen 2009; Nwapa, A.: Building and Sustaining Change: Pretrial Detention Reform in Nigeria. Open Society
Institute (ed.): Justice Initiatives. Pretrial Detention. New York 2008, pp. 86-102.
242 Duce, M., Fuentes, C., Riego, C.: La Reforma Procesal Penal En América Latina Y Su Impacto En El Uso De
La Prisión Preventiva. In: Riego, C., Duce, M. (eds.): Prisión Preventiva y Reforma Procesal Penal en América
Latina. Evaluación y Perspectivas. CEJA-JSCA 2009, pp. 13-73.

98Pretrial detention - though only justiﬁable by the goal to secure regular criminal proceedings andtrials and if it can be expected that the defendant will abscond, tamper with evidence or relapse into
serious crime - is assumed to be used in some countries for other, extra-legal purposes. In China,
for example, it is contended that pretrial detention serves the purpose of punishment and the wideuse of pretrial detention (which amounts to placing virtually all criminal suspects in secure custody)
is explained by the adoption of strict crime control policies244. But, extra-legal factors have been
identiﬁed as drivers of pretrial detention in other countries, too245.
Research in India has underlined that pretrial detention is ordered in signiﬁcant numbers of petty
crime cases and that costs could be considerably decreased if petty oﬀenders were kept out of pretrial
detention246. In systems which place the emphasis on bail pretrial detention is sometimes not a functionof the risk of absconding or obstruction of justice but rather a result of the economic weakness which
prevents that suspects can pay even small amounts of bail.
Studies demonstrate then that the risk of escape is often misjudged and as a consequence many
false positives are held in pretrial detention. In the 1990ies a study was carried out in Germany the
results of which demonstrate the potential for reducing pretrial detention without aﬀecting rule of law
and criminal proceedings. The study analyzed all decisions made in the Hamburg High Court in casesof extended pretrial detention (beyond 6 months). German criminal procedural law prescribes that
pretrial detention may not extend over a period of 6 months if there are no compelling grounds for notcarrying through a criminal trial before expiration of the 6 months period. The Hamburg High Court
found in 23 cases no compelling grounds which would have justiﬁed pretrial detention of more than 6months. So, 27 suspects had to be set free for whom the risk of absconding had been established bylower courts. However, 17 of these suspects voluntarily showed up for the criminal trial which took
place some time after their release. Only six suspects actually absconded and did not comply whensummoned by the trial court. Almost all of these were suspected of drug traﬃcking (and were foreign
nationals)247. From the viewpoint of accuracy of prediction these results say simply that for any one
suspect rightly predicted to represent an escape risk four others are falsely predicted to abscond.
This amounts to a rate of false positives of some 80%, a rate which sounds plausible when taking into
account the poor performance in criminal justice predictions at large.
The results of the study reported above demonstrate first of all the need for sound information
when deciding on pretrial detention. Here, the installation and proper functioning of pretrial social
services providing courts with information on community ties and other relevant issues will be one
crucial element in avoiding that low risk suspects are detained248.
Assigning a defense council very early in criminal proceedings seems to be correlated with shorter
periods of pretrial detention249. An experiment carried out in German court districts could demonstrate
243 Venegas, V., Vial, L.: Boomerang: Seeking to Reform Pretrial Detention Practices in Chile In: Open Society
Institute (ed.): Justice Initiatives. Pretrial Detention. New York 2008, pp. 44-56, p. 49.
244 Yanyou, Yi: Arrest as Punishment. The abuse of arrest in the Peopleʼs Republic of China. Punishment & Society
10(2008), pp. 9-24.
245 Dünkel, F.: Praxis der Untersuchungshaft in den 90er Jahren - Instrumentalisierung strafprozessualer
Zwangsmittel für kriminal- und ausländerpolitische Zwecke? Strafverteidiger 1994, pp. 610-621; Jehle, J.-M.:
Entwicklung der Untersuchungshaft bei Jugendlichen und Heranwachsenden vor und nach der Wiedervereinigung.
Bonn 1995; Parliamentary Assembly, Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights: Situation of European
prisons and pre-trial detention centres. Report. Doc. 10097, 19 February 2004.
246 Saxena, R.K.: Catalyst for Change: The Eﬀect of Prison Visits on Pretrial Detention in India. In: Open Society
Institute (ed.): Justice Initiatives. Pretrial Detention. New York 2008, pp. 57-69, p. 60.
247 Petersen, E.: Haftprüfungspraxis nach §§ 121, 122 StPO des Hanseatischen OLG Hamburg. Erfahrungen in den
Jahren 1990-1996. In: Jehle, J.-M., Hoch, P. (Eds.): Oberlandesgerichtliche Kontrolle langer Untersuchungshaft.
Wiesbaden: Eigenverlag Kriminologische Zentralstelle e.V. 1998, pp. 71-78.
248 Ehlers, L.: Frustrated Potential: The Short and Long Term Impact of Pretrial Services in South Africa. In: OpenSociety Institute (ed.): Justice Initiatives. Pretrial Detention. New York 2008, pp.121-140.

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that early assignment of a defence council through the court results in detention periods two months
shorter on the average than those experienced by pretrial detainees who did not have a lawyer250.
Systematic assignment of lawyers, it was concluded could reduce time spent in pretrial detention
by 16%251. Effective, early defense projects have been implemented in the Ukraine which proved
successful252.
In the same line of practices fall approaches which, also for budgetary reasons, install assistancethrough paralegals253. The Malawi based Paralegal Advisory Service supports pretrial detainees inparticular in practical matters concerning release from detention (ﬁlling out bail applications, ﬁnding
relatives who can serve as sureties, channeling relevant information to police and prosecutors)254. On
the basis of pretrial detention figures the service is assessed to be successful in diverting suspects
from pretrial detention. The remand population has been stabilized in Malawi after implementation of
the paralegal advisory scheme at some 22% (down from 50% before the scheme)255.
Experiences with electronic monitoring have not yet been evaluated systematically in the context
of replacing pretrial detention256; however, reports from Portugal describe electronic monitoringas an important element in a package designed to bring down the prison population and to reduce
overcrowding257.
The European Supervision Order (Framework Decision 2009/829/JI as of 23 October 2009) seeks
to compensate a particular risk of foreign nationals to be placed in pretrial detention258 and at the sametime to strengthen the principle of presumption of innocence. Through mutual recognition of pretrial(non-custodial) supervision orders it is sought in the European Union context to create an additional
option in the strategy to reduce pretrial populations259.
Case backlog reduction programs may serve to raise awareness for giving priority to cases where
pretrial detention was ordered and reduce the time suspects spend in pretrial detention260. The basisof backlog reduction programs is the implementation of case ﬁle management which ensures from themoment of arrest that a case ﬁle moves expeditiously from one agency to another261.

249 Human Rights Watch: The Quality of Justice. Failings of Iraq's Central Criminal Court. New York 2008, p. 1.
250 Schöch, H.: Der Einﬂuß der Strafverteidigung auf den Verlauf der Untersuchungshaft. Erfahrungsbericht überein Projekt der Hessischen Landesregierung zur Entschädigung von Anwälten für die Rechtsberatung vonUntersuchungsgefangenen . Baden-Baden 1997.
251 Schöch, H.: opus cited 1997, p. 73.
252 Naimark-Rowse, B., Schönteich, M., Sorochinsky,, M., Tomasini-Joshi, D.: Studies in Reform: Pretrial Detention
Investments in Mexico, Ukraine, and Latvia. Open Society Institute (ed.): Justice Initiatives. Pretrial Detention.
New York 2008, pp. 152-171.
253 Uganda Human Rights Commission: opus cited 2009.
254 Open Society Institute: Between Law and Society. Paralegals and the Provision of Primary Justice Services in
Sierra Leone New York, 2006, p. 4; Msiska, C.: On the Front Lines: Insights from Malawiʼs Paralegal Advisory
Service. Open Society Institute (ed.): Justice Initiatives. Pretrial Detention. New York 2008, pp. 70-85.
255 Msiska, C.: opus cited, 2008, p. 78.
256 Albrecht, H.-J.: Electronic Monitoring in Europe. A Summary and Assessment of Recent Developments in the
Legal Framework and Implementation of Electronic Monitoring. Konferenz- und Arbeitspapiere aus dem MaxPlanck-Institut für ausländisches und internationales Strafrecht. Freiburg 2005.
257 15th Conference of Directors of Prison Administration: Overcrowded Prisons: Looking for Solutions , (9-11September 2009, Edinburgh). Conclusions by the General Rapporteur, 11 September 2009, CDAP(2009)04, p. 3.
258 Tonry, M. (ed.): Ethnicity, Crime, and Immigration. Comparative and Cross-National Perspectives. Chicago,
London 1997.
259 See also Council of Europe Committee of Ministers: Recommendation No. R (80) 11 of the Committee of Ministers
to Member States Concerning Custody Pending Trial; Kühne, H.-H., Esser, R.: Die Rechtsprechung desEuropäischen Gerichtshofs für Menschenrechte (EGMR) zur Untersuchungshaft. Strafverteidiger 22(2002), pp.
383-393, p. 385.
260 Uganda Human Rights Commission: 11th Annual Report of the Uganda Human Rights Commission. Kampala 2009;see also a promising example of backlog reduction projects in Manila presented in ICRC: Philippines: protecting
life and dignity in places of detention. ICRC Bulletin No. 01/2010, 3 February 2010.

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4.4.7 Systems of Sanction: Alternatives to Imprisonment
The principle of reserving prison for serious crime and understanding imprisonment as a last resort
can be taken from the Standard Minimum Rules for Non-Custodial
Measures which list furthermore a range of alternatives (or community sanctions).
Proposals as to effectively address overcrowding emphasize alternatives to imprisonment as an
instrument to curb admissions to prison facilities262. Remarkable success stories can be reported fromcreating and successfully implementing alternatives to imprisonment in Europe. There is eg. clear
evidence that day ﬁnes succeeded in Austria, Germany and some Scandinavian countries as well as
in Switzerland, partially also in France and Spain in replacing to a quite considerable though diﬀering
extent in particular short-term imprisonment in the 1960s and 1970s 263. Day fines have certainly
considerable advantages as regards their potential to be adjusted at the same time to the seriousness ofthe oﬀence and to the income of the oﬀender and thus implement the principle of equal treatment. That
has been recognized also by INACIPE when proposing introduction of a day ﬁne system in Mexico264.
The apparent problem of ﬁne default265 has been addressed by various means, in particular throughoﬀering the possibility to work oﬀ a ﬁne through community service.
Suspended prison sentences and probation turned out to be quite successful as alternatives toimmediate imprisonment. The particular relevance of suspended prison sentences and probationis endorsed in the European Probation Rules 2010 where their important role in containing prison
population is explicitly recognized 266. In general, community based criminal sanctions and thedevelopment of punishment philosophies trying to integrate punishment, non-custodial, community
sanctions as well as the crime victim had received wide support in the 1980s and were based upon
the perception that still too many offenders were sent to prison although not presenting risks tothe community267. Actually, intermediate sanctions and diversion work in many countries and for awide range of oﬀender groups. A lot of these success stories are documented in several volumes on
sentencing and sentencing systems published in the 1990s and providing compelling evidence for the
success of alternatives to imprisonment268.
Yet, although alternatives to imprisonment have been introduced since the 1960s/1970s in many
regions and in spite of their apparent success alternatives have not or could not been implemented
in a way which had prevented further prison growth and overcrowding269. The UNODC Handbook ofbasic principles and promising practices on Alternatives to Imprisonment outlines various alternatives
and elaborates the conditions under which alternatives may eﬀectively replace prison sentences270. It
261 Nwapa, A.: Building and Sustaining Change: Pretrial Detention Reform in Nigeria. Open Society Institute (ed.):Justice Initiatives. Pretrial Detention. New York 2008, pp. 86-102.
262 Economic and Social Council: Resolution 1998/231998/23 - International cooperation aimed at the reduction ofprison overcrowding and the promotion of alternative sentencing44th plenary meeting 28 July 1998; Penal Reform
International: Alternatives to imprisonment in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Resolution and Recommendations.
International Conference, Almaty, 27-30 October 1999. London 1999.
263 See the comprehensive historical analysis in Jescheck, H.-H., Grebing, G. (Eds.): Die Geldstrafe im deutschen
und ausl?ndischen Recht. Nomos, Baden-Baden 1978.
264 INACIPE: 10 razones para reformar el sistema de justicia penal en Mexico. INACIPE, Mexico 2004, p. 26.
265 See for example The Irish Times: Number of people jailed for not paying ﬁnes set to double Monday, November 9,
2009.
266 Recommendation CM/Rec(2010)1 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the Council of Europe
Probation Rules. Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 20 January 2010 at the 1075th meeting of the
Ministers' Deputies; see also United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for Non-custodial Measures (The Tokyo
Rules).
267 See eg. Home Oﬃce: Punishment, Custody and The Community. London 1988, p. 2.
268 Tonry, M., Hatlestad, K. (Eds.): Sentencing Reform in Overcrowded Times. A Comparative Perspective. New
York, Oxford 1997; see also van Kalmthout, A., Tak, P.: Sanctions-Systems in the Member States of the Councilof Europe. Part I and II, Deventer, Arnhem 1988, 1992.
269 Weissman, M.: Aspiring to the Impracticable: Alternatives to Incarceration in the Era of Mass Incarceration. NYU
Review of Law & Social Change 33(2009), pp. 235-269.
270 UNODC: Handbook of basic principles and promising practices on Alternatives to Imprisonment. United Nations,
New York 2007.

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mentions good practice examples and provides information on a legislative project in Kazakhstan whichis assessed to have had a signiﬁcant impact on the prison population though the increased use of noncustodial sentences271. However, the rates of imprisonment remain extremely high in Kazakhstan272.
For African countries it has been argued that it is rather the high share of unsentenced prisoners
and the problem of lengthy investigations and trials and not the lack of alternatives to imprisonment
which drives capacity problems273. However, community service has been introduced in a coupleof African countries which seem to have worked quite well (although evaluation research as towhether they had an impact on reducing prison growth or overcrowding has not been carried out)274.
Community service evidently can be implemented also in face of strained budgets. It was pointed outthat community service ﬁts much better into African traditions of responding to deviance and crimethan do prison and imprisonment which are part of the colonial legacy. Recent experiments with
community service (partially related to Gacaca trials and perpetrators of genocidal acts) in Rwanda
demonstrate a significant potential and exhibit interesting and innovative features. The community
service program is integrated with professional training and with the idea of restitution and paying
back to the immediate community ( neighborhood community service 275. Large scale community
service programs recently have been initiated also in Kenya where they are an essential element inplans to decongest Kenyan prisons276. Mexico is planning for the introduction of community service,
too277. Here, community service shall be oﬀered as an alternative for ﬁrst time and small scale property
oﬀenders.
However, it has been pointed out also that community service is perceived as being a much
more lenient sentence compared with imprisonment and that more eﬀorts are needed to raise publicawareness as regards the beneﬁts of community service278.
Electronic monitoring has found its place in modern systems of sanctions279. Electronic monitoringat the beginning was restricted to the adult system of criminal justice. Electronic monitoring now
is extended to the juvenile justice systems. Active tracking systems are increasingly put on trial,
following a trend to introduce tracking devices for sexual oﬀenders after release from prison. Particular
beneﬁts of active tracking systems are expected for pre-trial supervision of oﬀenders as well as for
implementing exclusion orders in domestic violence cases. Costs coming with electronic monitoringare in general lower than those linked to imprisonment280. As regards cost comparisons with othercommunity sanctions, evidence is less conclusive. Costs, however, are largely dependent on the typeof (rehabilitative) programmes that are implemented together with electronic monitoring. In general,
completion rates are high and failure rates are low. This reflects careful selection of offenders. A
consensus exists that electronic monitoring replaces to a certain extent imprisonment (and inﬂuences though on a small scale - the number of oﬀenders sent to prison). Research on recidivism has come up
with mixed results as does research on absconding while on pre-trial electronic monitoring281.

271 UNODC: opus cited, 2007, p. 26.
272 www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2009/sca/136088.htm (2009 Human Rights Report: Kazakhstan).
273 Muntingh, L.: opus cited, 2008, p. 186.
274 Stern, V.: opus cited, 1999, pp. 233, 238; UNODC: opus cited, 2007, p. 37.
275 Penal Reform International: Monitoring and Research Report on the Gacaca Community Service (TIG). Areas ofreﬂection. Gacaca Report, Kigali, March 2007 p. 1.
276 Daily Nation: 50.000 to be released in prison decongestion plan. March 16 2010.
277 CDHDF: Presentan CDHDF Y ALDF Iniciativas de reforma al Sistema Penitenciario. June 9 2009.
278 Birung, C.: Community Service in Uganda as an Alternative to Imprisonment. A Case Study of Masaka andMukono Districts. Capetown 2005, pp. 69-70.
279 Nellis, M.: Surveillance, Rehabilitation and Electronic Monitoring: Getting the Issues Clear. Criminology & Public
Policy 5(2006), pp. 103-108.
280 See for example Fenech G.: Le placement sous surveillance électronique. Rapport de la mission confiée parPremier Ministre à Monsieur Georges Fenech, député du Rhône. Paris, Ministère de la Justice 2005.

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4.4.8 Sentencing Policies
Sentencing policy and the statutory framework of sentencing refer to a crucial factor in determining
the size of a prison population and the extent of overcrowding. In this respect sentencing guidelines
and sentencing commissions which set priorities for prison eligible offences and take into accountavailable prison capacity had been assumed to represent effective controls of prison growth 282.
However, the experiences made during the last decades demonstrate that it is rather the substanceof sentencing guidelines and not the method which will impact on the use of prison sentences.
overcrowding. Of particular relevance seems the response to recidivists in sentencing law andpractice. The emergence of“three and two strikes laws”and truth in sentencing policies, generalapproaches to enhancing penalties in case of recidivism and minimum penalty legislation have been
discussed as major drivers of long prison sentences and as an area where reforms should be focusedon implementing the principle of proportionality. The finding presented earlier that the wide andindiscriminate use of enhanced prison sentences does not improve public safety but rather contributes
to the deterioration of crime and crime control problems should result in considering strictly theinternationally endorsed principles of proportionality and imprisonment as a last resort in sentencing
legislation. Sentencing legislation should leave enough room for judges to adjust the penalty toindividual characteristics of offence and offender 283. This would mean to re-consider mandatory
minimum sentencing laws, truth in sentencing policies and in particular“three strikes and you’re out”
policies284 and to provide for a system of sentencing which is better insulated from penal populism.
From a normative perspective and legal doctrine the problem extends then to the question of what
may fall under the verdict of disproportionate or grossly disproportional punishment285 .
The perspective of parliaments when reforming sentencing laws has to pay attention to the question
whether a specific sentencing policy can be sustained. While it is sometimes thought that prosecution
services and the judiciary should also consider which impact certain sentencing decisions have on theprison system, from a viewpoint of separation of powers it is primarily the task of the legislator totake into consideration possible and probable consequences (and side effects) of legislation and to baselegislation on thorough impact assessments. Impact assessments have found a wide field of application,for example in policies for the protection of the environment286 and are today an essential element ingood governance287. Impact assessments may provide for rough estimates on the effects to be expected

281 Renzema, M., Mayo-Wilson, E.: Can electronic monitoring reduce crime for moderate to high-risk offenders?
Journal of Experimental Criminology 1(2005), pp. 215-237; Swedish National Council on Crime Prevention:
Electronic Tagging in Sweden. Report 2005; Dodgson, K., Goodwin, P., Howard, P., Llewellyn-Thomas, S.,
Mortimer, E., Russell, N., Weiner, M.: Electronic monitoring of released prisoners: an evaluation of the Home
Detention Curfew scheme. Home Office Research Study 222, Home Office Research, Development and Statistics
Directorate, March 2001; Padget, K.G., Bales, W.D., Blomberg, T.G.: Under Surveillance: An Empirical Test of
Effectiveness and Consequences of Electronic Monitoring. Criminology & Public Policy 5(2006), pp. 61-92.
282 Kennedy, E.M.: Prison Overcrowding: The Law's Dilemma. The Annals of the American Academy of Political andSocial Science. Vol. 478, Beverly Hills 1985, pp. 113-122; Frase, R.S.: The Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines. In:
Freiberg, A., Gelb, K. (eds.): Penal Populism, Sentencing Councils and Sentencing Policy. Cullompton 2008, pp.
83-102, p. 99.
283 Tonry, M.: Mandatory penalties. In: Tonry, M. (ed.): Crime and justice: A review of research,
Vol. 16. Chicago 1992, pp. 243-273.
284 Zimring, F.E.: Protect Individual Punishment Decisions From Mandatory Penalties. Criminology & Public Policy
6(2007), pp. 881-886.
285 Van Zyl Smit, D., Ashworth, A.: Disproportionate Sentences as Human Rights Violations. The Modern Law
Review 67(2004), pp. 541-560.
286 For an overview see Albrecht, H.-J.; Kilchling, M., Braun, E.: Criminal Preventive Risk Assessment in the LawMaking Procedure. Freiburg 2002.
287 See Terblanche, S., Mackenzie, G.: Mandatory Sentences in South Africa: Lessons for Australia? The Australianand New Zealand Journal of Criminology 41(2008), pp. 402-420, describing the process of making sunshine
legislation on minimum sentences of South Africa 1998 permanent legislation without considering the impact theseminimum sentences would have a decade later.

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from penal legislation for law enforcement, courts and the correctional system. With that a sound basis
will be established which will help to answer the question whether changes in sentencing laws may besustained without causing unacceptable problems in the correctional system.
Particular concern then should be given to special groups of offenders, among them children,
women and foreign nationals which may be aﬀected through sentencing in diﬀerent ways.
Sentencing laws and sentencing practices have to respect the Child Convention which demands
for custody to be used as a last resort and requires effective and specific implementation of thisprinciple288. Furthermore, Article 37(a) provides for a standard of neither applying capital punishment
nor life imprisonment without the possibility of release. However, current practices demonstratethat children sometimes are exposed to a high risk of imprisonment. Debates in England/Wales onchildren in custody for example point to a strong increase in the number of children sent to custodial
facilities despite ﬁndings that such custodial sentences are neither in the interest of lowering rates of
re-oﬀending nor in the interest of public protection289. The vast majority of children/juveniles placedin custody have not been convicted for violent crime290. Furthermore, concerns have been raisedwith respect to the age of criminal responsibility as well as the age from which on children may besentenced to imprisonment291..The Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justiceadvise not to fix the age of criminal responsibility too low and if resorting to custodial sentences
to impose only the minimum necessary period (which allows for education and reform of juvenile
oﬀenders). While the wide and sometimes indiscriminate use of life imprisonment has been discussed
above, special attention should be paid to life imprisonment for the juvenile oﬀender292. According torecent statistics from North America there are 6.807 juveniles serving life sentences; 1.755 of whomare serving sentences of life without parole293.
Women, representing a minority among prisoners at large everywhere are at risk of being
neglected when it comes to prison reform. The challenges posed by this largely vulnerable group294
have been summarized recently in a report submitted to the English government295. The report advises
the government to radically change correctional policies for women offenders with non-custodial
sentences for non-violent women being the rule and replacing womeǹs prisons by dispersed, small
and multifunctional facilities. Such a strategy is considered to provide partial solution to persistentovercrowding problems.
Foreign nationals run particular risk of receiving prison sentences or being detained prior to trial296.
Research from Europe has stressed that in many countries alternatives to imprisonment or pretrial
detention do not work properly for foreign offenders (or illegal immigrants) due to a strong bias incommunity sanctions and alternatives to remand prison towards settled oﬀenders with bonds to thecommunity297. The European Union has responded to this problem with initiating Framework Decisions
288 Joint Committee on Human Rights (January 2008) Legislative Scrutiny: Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill Fifth
Report of Session 2007-08.
289 Standing Committee for Youth Justice: Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill. House of Lords - Committee Stage.
Childrenʼs custody threshold. February 2008, p. 4.
290 Ministry of Justice: Statistical bulletin. Oﬀender management caseload statistics 2006. London 2007.
291 Human Rights Council: Seventh session. Agenda item 3. Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and othercruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Manfred Nowak. Addendum, Mission to Indonesia. A/
HRC/7/3/Add.7 10 March 2008, p. 16.
292 Nellis, A., King, R.S.: No Exit. The Expanding Use of Life Sentences in America. Washington 2009.
293 Nellis, A., King, R.S.: opus cited, 2009, p. 3.
294 CPT: Report to the Government of the United Kingdom on the visit to the United Kingdom carried out by theEuropean Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT)from 18 November to 1 December 2008. Strasbourg 2009, p. 21.
295 A report by Baroness Jean Corston of a review of women with particular vulnerabilities in the criminal justicesystem, Home Oﬃce, London 2007.
296 Human Rights Council: Tenth session. Agenda item 3. Report of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.
Addendum Mission to Italy. A/HRC/10/21/Add.5, 26 January 2009, p. 2.

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on the mutual recognition of pretrial supervision orders (Framework Decision 2009/829/JI as of 23
October 2009) and the Framework Decision 2008/947/JHA of 27 November 2008 on the application of
the principle of mutual recognition to judgments and probation decisions with a view to the supervisionof probation measures and alternative sanctions. The framework decisions establishing mutual
recognition of alternatives to pretrial detention and imprisonment have been introduced in order tocompensate for the increased risk of not being eligible for non-custodial measures due to a lack ofbonds in the territory where proceedings are held and sanctions are executed. While this policy has
emerged under the particular conditions of the European Union, the general approach of transferring
enforcement and supervision of non-custodial measures to the home country of an oﬀender provides fora reasonable option for the particularly vulnerable group of foreign oﬀenders and hence an additional
option in the control of overcrowding.
4.4.9 Post Adjudication Measures Against OvercrowdingStandard Minimum Rules for Non-Custodial Measures298 assign the post adjudication stage an
important function in the process of implementing rehabilitation and to assist oﬀenders in the processof re-integration. Parole is the core of a set of measures which ranges from reductions in the original
prison sentence, early release under supervision to various forms of prison regimes (open prison,
work furloughs, home detention etc.). Parole and good time approaches are among the conventional
instruments to reduce the time which has to be spent actually in prison. Parole and organization ofparole are furthermore important as recidivism research shows that of those who recidivate (andare re-imprisoned a majority does so within the first year after release299. Parole therefore serves
as a bridge between incarceration and return to the community and represents the most important
instrument in tackling the problem of revolving doors . It is based on the consideration that a gradualand supervised release provides a more eﬀective way of protecting the public than a sudden releaseat sentence expiry. Parole over the last decades has partially lost ground, though, in countries whereparole was abolished good time credits serve as an alternative which results in reductions of theoriginal prison sentence.
Parole comes in different forms. While some systems have adopted automatic parole after
statutorily fixed periods of imprisonment, most criminal codes still provide for a decision which isbased on an assessment of risk and which can result in early release after a certain part of the prison
sentence has been served300. Parole decisions normally point to three elements: a statutorily fixedpart of the prison sentence has to be served (special rules usually apply to prisoners serving life
sentences or being subject to measures of security), a parole commission or a judge assesses therisk of relapse into crime and speciﬁes conditions the parolee has to comply with and which will bemonitored by parole/probation officers. The parole commission/judge then will fix a period of timeof parole supervision. While these elements explain why parole is an elastic instrument which lends
itself to respond to prison overcrowding301, they refer also to an explanation why changes in parole
decision making may lead to prison growth and overcrowding. In fact, during the last decades prison
growth has been explained also by more restrictive, caused by concerns for public security, paralleledby a trend of parole supervision away from a social service orientation to a surveillance oriented
instrument of public protection302. The latter has been made responsible for a tightening of conditions
and orders coming with early release from prison. Stricter surveillance of conditions of parole has in
297 Tonry, M.: A Comparative Perspective on Minority Groups, Crime, and Criminal Justice. European Journal of
Crime, Criminal Law and Criminal Justice 6(1998), pp. 60-73.
298 Council of Europe: Recommendation Rec (2003) 22 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on conditional
release (parole).
299 Nadesu, A.: Reconviction Patterns of Released Prisoners: A 36-months Follow-up Analysis. Department ofCorrections, Auckland, March 2007, p. 4.
300 Les Documents de Travail du Sénat: La Libération Conditionelle. Série Législation Comparée, n°LC 152, Paris,
Novembre 2005 ; Padﬁeld, N. et al. (eds.): Release From Prison. European Policy and Practice. Cullompton 2010.
301 Snacken, S., et al.: Belgium. In: Padﬁeld, N. et al. (eds.): Release From Prison. European Policy and Practice.
Cullompton 2010, pp. 70-103, p. 88.
302 Padﬁeld, N., Maruna, S.: The revolving door at the prison gate: Exploring the dramatic increase in recalls toprison. Criminology and Criminal Justice 6(2006), pp. 329-352, p. 338.

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some systems led to a sharp increase in the return of parolees because of technical violations of parole,
surpassing prison sentences as a driver of prison growth303 and resulted in additional strain placedon overcrowded prisons304. Intensive supervision, originally designed to reduce the risk of relapse
into crime and to expand the use of early release, thus can turn into a mechanism which adds to the
problem of overcrowding. Research on electronically monitored house arrest corroborates this view305.
Parole has come under particular scrutiny and pressure - as have suspended prison sentences due to security concerns caused by spectacular crimes committed by parolees or persons who had
been placed under probation after suspension of a prison sentence306. With increasing concerns for
public security risk assessment and the development and application of elaborated risk assessment
instruments have become more important.
There is not much known about best practices as regards revocation of parole and recalls toprison307. As a minimum recalls to prison should be based on the principle of consistency and theyshould reﬂect recognition of the basic standards applied to the use of imprisonment in general. Thismeans also that recalls should be used as a last resort and in a proportional manner and after tightening
and adjustment of conditions have failed. In general, revocation for technical violations of parole should
be restricted to repeated and substantial violations and violations which indicate a danger to the public.
4.4.10 Amnesties and Collective Pardons
When addressing prison overcrowding sometimes amnesties and collective pardon are applied which
are deemed to be problematic from the viewpoint of recommendations as well as the perspectivesof principles of sustainability, rule of law and separation of powers. Amnesties usually have rather
short-lived eﬀects on prison populations. They do not aﬀect root causes of growth and result in shortterm improvements which fade away shortly after implementation if nothing else changes. Large
scale amnesties reportedly have been used in Zimbabwe several times during the 1980s and 1990s tobring down the size of the prison population, however, despite signiﬁcant short term decreases in the
population, empty prison cells have been ﬁlled308 Italy saw a major amnesty in 2006 as a response toprison capacity problems which in fact emptied the prisons, but resulted also in mistrust and insecurity
in the public. A policy of granting amnesty had been implemented in South Africa. Here, too, theimpact was short-lived309.
Amnesties certainly have their role to play as an instrument to settle large scale conﬂicts and to
pacify a country where a signiﬁcant potential of conﬂict escalation looms. In the wake of major politicaltransitions amnesties may be a tool supporting reconciliation (as it was the case at some occasions in
the new democracies in Central and Eastern Europe)310. However, the regular use of amnesties as a
303 Travis, J., Petersilia, J.: Reentry Reconsidered: A New Look at an Old Question. Crime & Delinquency 47(2001),
pp. 291-313; Petersilia, J.: When Prisoners Come Home: Parole and Prisoner Reentry. Oxford 2003; Weiman, D.R.:
Barriers to Prisoners' Reentry into the Labor Market and the Social Costs of Recidivism. social research 74(2007),
pp. 575-611, p. 599; The PEW Center on States: opus cited, 2008, p. 18.
304 Auerhahn, K.: Conceptual and Methodological Issues in the Prediction of Dangerous Behaviour. Criminology &Public Policy 5(2006), pp. 771-778, p. 774.
305 Dodgson, K., Goodwin, P., Howard, P., Llewellyn-Thomas, S., Mortimer, E., Russell, N., Weiner, M.:
Electronic monitoring of released prisoners: an evaluation of the Home Detention Curfew scheme. Home Oﬃce
Research Study 222, Home Oﬃce Research, Development and Statistics Directorate, March 2001.
306 Albrecht, H.-J.: Security Gaps: Responding to Dangerous Sex Offenders in the Federal Republic of Germany.
Federal Sentencing Reporter 16(2004), pp. 200-207.
307 Padﬁeld, N., Maruna, S.: opus cited 2006, p. 347.
308 Stern, V.: Alternatives to Prison in Developing Countries: Some Lessons from Africa. Punishment & Society1(1999), pp. 231-241, p. 236; see also Dankwa, V.: Overcrowding in African Prisons. In: Sarkin, J. (ed.): Human
Rights in African Prisons. Capetown 2008, pp. 83-92, p. 84.
309 Dissel, A., Ellis, S.: Reform and Stasis: Transformation in South African Prisons. Center for the Study of Violenceand Reconciliation, Capetown 2002.
310 Albrecht, H.-J.: Braucht die Politik die Amnestie? Anmerkungen zum Problem der Amnestie aus der Perspektive
der Rechtsentwicklung im Ausland. In: Greve, W. (ed.): Amnestie, Gnade, Politik. Loccumer Protokolle. Loccum
1990, pp. 67-95.

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response to prison overcrowding seems to undermine conﬁdence in the criminal justice system. The
issue of a possibly negative impact on conﬁdence is also raised by the Human Rights Council when
faced with large scale amnesties311. Despite such concerns, it has been argued that amnesties may
play a useful role in controlling overcrowding if other measures are not available at all312. Although,such a situation is in principle imaginable (for example in the case of a sudden, unexpected and drastic
increase in the number of prisoners), the routine practice of amnesties and collective pardons until
now is observed in countries with long histories of overcrowding. As a rule, amnesties and collective
pardons are only legitimate under the goal of achieving reconciliation in a society aﬀected by severe
conﬂicts.

5. Summary and Conclusions
5.1 Findings

1. Prison overcrowding is a serious problem and an elusive phenomenon. Overcrowding seems torepresent a characteristic troubling the modern prison since its invention in the 19th century.
2. Overcrowding sometimes emerges as a problem which remained hidden for a long time;
rapid declines of the prison population seem to come often also as a surprise for criminal justiceadministrators.
3. The patterns of turning points in the course of prison populations reﬂect to a certain extent thedegree of stability of criminal justice policies and criminal sentencing and the extent of their insulationfrom outside pressures.
4. The problem of prison overcrowding is located at an intersection where several important policy
and crime research related topics converge. These topics concern criminal sentencing, the role ofprison sentences and imprisonment in the system of criminal sanctions, prison standards, the courseof crime, prison budgets, economic restraints and general criminal policy determining the course of
criminal law and punishment in a society.
5. Prison overcrowding can come as the result of a slow, steady and long term increase in thenumber of prisoners, developing into a culture of chronic overcrowding ; it can come also in a rapid
move upwards for example in the wake of collective violence Correctional systems may be aﬀectedby prison overcrowding for short periods of time; in others overcrowding appears as an ebb and ﬂow
phenomenon.
6. Approaches to the assessment of overcrowding under international and national laws and standards
amount roughly to a totality-of conditions test. The smaller the space available, however, the more
important becomes space in itself.
7. Prison capacity is a slippery concept which expresses the need for elasticity and can be used tomake overcrowding more or less apparent.
8. A closer look at prison systems reveals that the correlation between the rate of imprisonment andovercrowding is rather weak
9. Overcrowding is correlated with the rate of pretrial detainees, the size of the GDP per capita, thedegree of inequality, democracy, the extent of perceived corruption, state fragility as well as violence.
Overcrowding is not signiﬁcantly correlated with the prisoner rate at large. On the basis of the patternof correlations found it can be concluded that overcrowding problems essentially are associated withproblems of governance, a weak economy and obvious problems in the criminal justice systems.
311 Human Rights Council: Tenth session. Agenda item 3. Report of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.
Addendum. Mission to Italy. A/HRC/10/21/Add.5, 26 January 2009, p. 9.
312 Walmsley, R.: Global Incarceration and Prison Trends. Forum on Crime and Society 3(2003), pp. 65-78, p. 74.

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10. Three distinct clusters of overcrowding can be distinguished, displaying diﬀerences in economic,
social, governance and criminal justice related dimensions. Low overcrowding is correlated with a highGDP per capita, a low violence rate, low state fragility, high achievements in human development anddemocracy and a low extent of perceived corruption. A slightly higher rate of overcrowding comeswith a low rate of pretrial detainees and a high rate of imprisonment. High overcrowding is correlatedwith a rather low prisoner rate, a high rate of violence, low per capita GDP, democracy and humandevelopment values as well as manifest signs of weak governmental structures.
11. Particular problems of overcrowding are observed in countries which undergo rapid social change
and significant transitions or find themselves in a post-conflict situation and in a difficult process ofstate building. Here, prisons and prison conditions should become an integral part of the general
reform of the security sectors and general security policies.
12. Data on prison capacity and overcrowding reveal also that overcrowding may aﬀect a countryʼsprisons selectively with some prisons showing over capacity occupancy while others operate below thelevel of accommodation capacity.
13. Particular problems of overcrowding are observed for prisons serving large cities where various
social problems converge.
14. Although, there are but few longitudinal studies on prison overcrowding, it can be assumed on
the basis of research and reports that distinct patterns of careers in overcrowding exist which can bemodeled along various economic, cultural and political conditions. Turning points in the course prison
populations take reﬂect the impact of amnesties, changes in sentencing policies or in the sensitivity
towards certain types of crime.
15. Prison populations are growing in some parts of the world. However, in some regions/countries
marked decreases in prison populations have been observed in the last decade. There is evidently no
uniform trend. Even within (Federal) states prisoner rates take completely diﬀerent courses.
16. Prison population drops come sometimes unexpected. Recent prison population drops in Germany
and in The Netherlands are explained by a decline in crime. Others (Portugal) are a consequence ofdeliberate planning.

5.2 Explanations

1. According to many voices changes in crime rates do not contribute signiﬁcantly to prison growthand overcrowding. While this assumption may hold true for changes in crime rates in general,
increases in (sensitive) crime categories which attract prison sentences, in particular long prison
sentences, during the last decades have been identiﬁed as drivers of overcrowding in prisons.
2. New social problems (drugs), the eruption of large scale violence or systemic violence may
inﬂuence the course prison populations take. Another potential for crime impacting on prisons is insome countries found in general public order oﬀences.
3. In many criminal justice systems minimum and maximum penalties have been raised and minimum
sentences have been introduced. Extended minimum sentences will have lagged effects on prison
populations.
4. Statutory frameworks of sentencing which allow for grossly inflated periods of imprisonment
and the imposition of consecutively running prison sentences for multiple crimes add to the rise oflong prison sentences. Particular attention should be devoted to life prison sentences and here to life
without parole
5.

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While security orientation and punitive responses in fact prevail with respect to oﬀender groupsdeemed dangerous, alternatives to imprisonment, community sanctions, intermediate penalties,
mediation and restorative justice approaches, most recently a new interest in designing eﬀective reentry programs for ex-convicts still ﬁgure prominently on crime policy agendas.
6. Alternatives to imprisonment and parole, however, carry a risk of imprisonment in case of failure
to pay a ﬁne, violations of conditions coming with alternatives or re-oﬀending. Fines are particularly
prone to be converted into substitute imprisonment under conditions of poor economic circumstancesand large scale poverty.
7. During the last decades prison growth has been explained also by more restrictive, caused byconcerns for public security, paralleled by a trend of parole supervision away from a social service
orientation to a surveillance oriented instrument of public protection. The latter has been maderesponsible for a tightening of conditions and orders coming with early release from prison. Stricter
surveillance of conditions of parole has in some systems led to a sharp increase in the return ofparolees because of technical violations of parole, surpassing prison sentences as a driver of prison
growth
8. Poor and unsettled oﬀenders turn out to fuel prison inﬂation in diﬀerent contexts. In developing
countries poverty is at the core of the problem of failure due to persons not being able to pay even mallamounts of ﬁnes or bail.
9. Root causes of overcrowding have been identiﬁed in statutory frameworks and practices of pretrial
detention.
10. Developments in prison populations and overcrowding are diverse and reﬂect idiosyncracies which
necessitate careful analysis of individual national systems of criminal justice.
11. In a recent comprehensive analysis of US prison data covering the period 1977 to 2005 it was
concluded that the best predictors of the size of prison populations are crime, sentencing policy, prison
overcrowding and state spending (on prisons). Prison overcrowding thus may be part of the onset of apolitical process where due to a lack of imagination of other options than building new prisons spending
on prisons results in a dynamic which reiterates political decisions and at the same time boosts thepotential for overcrowding.
12. There do not seem to exist many windows of opportunity for passing knowledge from research
to the political system in order to develop evidence based correctional policies.

5.3 Conclusions

1. Overcrowding has been on international and national policy agenda since decades. Insofar, it does
not come as a surprise that strategies to reduce overcrowding have been extensively discussed andwidely disseminated.
2. In general, approaches to deal with prison overcrowding refer to reduction of admissions to prisonand detention and reduction in the length of the stay.
3. Full consent exists on a two pronged approach of implementation which on the one hand identiﬁes
the measures with which to reduce/combat etc. prison overcrowding and on the other hand gets themeasures accepted .
4. Research rarely addresses public attitudes towards prison overcrowding and acceptable
instruments to resolve such problems. In general, it was found that the public is not interested inprison policy. The constituency for prisons is evidently narrow, specialized and not inﬂuential.
5.

There are certainly no states of denial on the side of states and criminal justice oﬃcials when it

109

comes to recognizing overcrowding problems.
6. Analysis of overcrowding, identiﬁcation of conditions under which overcrowding emerges as well
as evaluation of approaches to contain or reduce overcrowding are in need of reliable and valid data on
police recorded crime, sentencing, the prison population and the ﬂow of cases.
7. Most of the penitentiary systems do not provide for suﬃcient data; moreover research on prison
and imprisonment is limited, in particular as regards research comparing various sentencing options(including imprisonment)
8.

Prison projections represent an instrument which in principle can advise and guide policy.

9. In spite of limitations of prison projections, implementation of this approach will result in
information systems which can inform research, the public and politicians and thus improve the basis
for impact assessments and political discourses around sentencing and other crime related policies.
10. Prison construction programs or the acquisition of additional space through privatization can
provide relief in case of overcrowding. However, prison construction programs must be placed
under financial restrictions. Second, additional prison capacity may in fact worsen the problem ofovercrowding in the long run and furthermore reinforce a policy of reliance on imprisonment and thedeprivation of liberty.
11. Prison litigation can become a means to and a part of prison reform. As prisons and prisoner do nothave a strong constituency, strengthening inmates rights in litigation cases could be a eﬀective tool in
de-crowding prisons through the empowerment of inmates and NGOs.
12. Public order oﬀences, small drug oﬀences and criminal oﬀences committed by addicted oﬀenders
are candidates for either complete decriminalization or for transformation into administrative oﬀences
which do not carry prison sentences.
13. Drug addicted prisoners and the mentally ill represent in some correctional systems signiﬁcantgroups which not only contribute to overcrowding but also to additional problems as regards the risk oftransmitting infectious diseases.
14. Restorative justice and mediation programs may be useful to reduce the length of prison
sentences. Serious efforts for reconciliation between offender and victim are in some systems
considered as mitigating factors. But, it is difficult to assess the potential of restorative justice,mediation and restitution due to the absence of evaluation research which addresses the impact of
restitution, restorative justice or victim-oﬀender-reconciliation programs on sentencing and the prison
population.
15. Traditional or customary approaches to deal with crime certainly have a potential as an alternative
to formal criminal proceedings. The wide use of (informal) reconciliation procedures in African andAsian countries demonstrate eﬀectiveness but also risks related to equal treatment and fairness.
16. With respect to pretrial detention it seems to be promising to place the emphasis first on
the normative framework of pretrial detention and alternatives to pretrial detention. Of utmost
importance for a normative framework geared towards minimizing pretrial detention is the principle ofproportionality and the way proportionality is translated into the conditions set for pretrial detention.
Placing a strict statutory cap on the length of pretrial detention certainly plays a decisive role inlimiting pretrial detention as does a general clause which prevents that petty oﬀences (which will mostprobably result in non-custodial sentences) will lead to detention prior to trial
17. Studies demonstrate then that the risk of absconding is often misjudged in decisions on pretrial

110detention and as a consequence many false positives are held in remand prisons.
18. Assigning a defense council very early in criminal proceedings seems to be correlated with shorter
periods of pretrial detention In the same line of practices fall approaches which, also for budgetary
reasons, install assistance through paralegals
19. Experiences with electronic monitoring have not yet been evaluated systematically in the context
of replacing pretrial detention; however, reports describe electronic monitoring as an importantelement in packages designed to bring down the prison population.
20. The European Supervision Order seeks to compensate a particular risk of foreign nationals to
be placed in pretrial detention and at the same time to strengthen the principle of presumption of
innocence. Through mutual recognition of pretrial (non-custodial) supervision orders it is sought in theEuropean Union context to create an additional option in the strategy to reduce pretrial populations.
21. Case backlog reduction programs may serve to raise awareness for giving priority to cases where
pretrial detention was ordered and reduce the time suspects spend in pretrial detention.
22. Remarkable success stories can be reported from creating and successfully implementing
alternatives to imprisonment. There is clear evidence that day ﬁnes succeeded in the past to replace toa quite considerable though diﬀering extent in particular short-term imprisonment .
23. Suspended prison sentences and probation turned out to be quite successful as alternatives toimmediate imprisonment.
24. Although, alternatives to imprisonment have been introduced since the 1960s/1970s in many
regions and in spite of their apparent success alternatives have not or could not been implemented in a
way which has prevented further prison growth and overcrowding.
25. Community service programs have been introduced in many countries which seem to work quite
well. Community service evidently can be implemented also in face of strained budgets. Some of
the new community service programs demonstrate a signiﬁcant potential and exhibit interesting andinnovative features. These community service programs are integrated with professional training andwith the idea of restitution and paying back to the immediate community ( neighborhood community
service ).
26 The emergence of three and two strikes laws and truth in sentencing policies, generalapproaches to enhancing penalties in case of recidivism and minimum penalty legislation have been
discussed as major drivers of long prison sentences and as an area where reforms should be focused on
implementing the principle of proportionality
27. The wide and indiscriminate use of enhanced prison sentences does not improve public safety
but rather contributes to the deterioration of crime and crime control problems. This should result in
considering strictly the internationally endorsed principles of proportionality and imprisonment as alast resort in sentencing legislation.
28. Sentencing legislation should leave enough room for judges to adjust the penalty to individual
characteristics of offence and offender. This would mean to re-consider mandatory minimum
sentencing laws, truth in sentencing policies and in particular three strikes and youʼ re out policies.
Sentencing should be better insulated from penal populism.
29. Parliaments when reforming sentencing laws have to pay attention to the question whether
a specific sentencing policy can be sustained. Iit is primarily the task of the legislator to take into
consideration possible consequences (and side eﬀects) of legislation and to base legislation on thorough111

impact assessments. Impact assessments have found a wide field of application and are today anessential element in good governance.
30. Parole is the core of a set of measures which ranges from reductions in the original prison
sentence, early release under supervision to various forms of prison regimes (open prison, work
furloughs, home detention etc.). Parole and good time approaches are among the conventional
instruments to reduce the time which has to be spent actually in prison.
31. Parole therefore serves as a bridge between incarceration and return to the community andrepresents the most important instrument in tackling the problem of revolving doors.
32. There is not much known about best practices as regards revocation of parole and recalls toprison. As a minimum recalls to prison should be based on the principle of consistency and they should
reﬂect recognition of the basic standards applied to the use of imprisonment in general. This means
also that recalls should be used as a last resort and in a proportional manner and after tightening andadjustment of conditions have failed. In general, revocation for technical violations of parole should be
restricted to repeated and substantial violations and violations which indicate a danger to the public
33. Amnesties usually have rather short-lived eﬀects on prison populations. They do not aﬀect root
causes of growth and result in short term improvements which fade away shortly after implementation
if nothing else changes. Amnesties certainly play a legitimate role as an instrument to settle large
scale conﬂicts and to pacify a country where a signiﬁcant potential of conﬂict escalation looms, not in
responses to

5.4 Open Questions

Crucial and still open questions concern the explanation of success and the explanation of failure ofmeasures to control overcrowding. If the acid test of reform should be rather what can be sustained
than what can be attained313, then, well designed longitudinal research is needed. For most of the
projects and approaches described in this report such research is not available. The assessment of
success and failure is based on a mix of limited data, selective and systematic observation, narratives
and assessments based on practical experiences. But, beyond that theoretical underpinning isrequired which structures the complexity which comes with the onset and disappearance of prison
overcrowding, reconciles normative and empirical approaches and ultimately provides guidance forpolitical decisions.
When looking at explanations of success a diverse picture can be drawn which essentially fits
the assumption of rather unique configurations which in the context of a countries history explain
why certain approaches work (and others not). Successful reforms and changes in pretrial detention
practices in the Ukraine for example are explained by placing pretrial detention reform into a larger
policy of moving away from a repressive Soviet style system and to become an accepted member of
the Council of Europe314. Speciﬁc incentives insofar have been perceived to exist and have been linked
to prison conditions. Successful reduction of remand and sentenced prison population in Portugal
over the last years is linked to a comprehensive reform of substantive and procedural criminal law;behind that stood evidently the political will to contain prison growth and to improve prison conditions.
Political will as to what place prison sentences should play in a system of criminal sanctions and how
prison sentences should be enforced certainly have a central place in explanations. A major impact on
the size of prison populations can be expected from deliberate political decisions to cut down the useof imprisonment. Examples can be drawn from decisions made by Austrian and German parliaments
to reduce the use of short term prison sentences (up to six months) in the 1960s. Finland opted
also for a major change in the use of prison sentences when making a decision to adjust to practices
implemented in other Scandinavian countries. Both examples, the German/Austrian as well as the
313 Varenik, R.O.: Mixing Politics, Data, and Detention: Reﬂections on Reform Eﬀorts. In: Open Society Institute(ed.): Justice Initiatives. Pretrial Detention. New York 2008, pp. 172-183, p. 174.
314 Naimark-Rowse, B., Schönteich, M., Sorochinsky,, M., Tomasini-Joshi, D.: opus cited, 2008.

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Finnish, demonstrate also what is needed to initiate political discourses and ultimately politicalchanges which reduce the prison population eﬀectively: a justiﬁcatory system or a narrative which ispolitically acceptable and which endorses decarceration policies or alternatives to imprisonment315.
In Germany/Austria the narrative drawn from the program of Franz v. Liszt was very successfulwhen implementing in the 1960ies a policy which gave priority to ﬁnes and cut back drastically shortprison sentences. In Finland it was evidently the wish to fall in line with the rest of the Scandinavian
countries which resulted in adopting a decarceration policy which decreased the prison population
signiﬁcantly. However, it is not clear how such justiﬁcations are made to work and why under certain
conditions they seem to be successful and under other conditions they are not.
The Finnish case shows that discourses on the role of prison sentences and the size of the prison
population may be also initiated by placing prison ﬁgures into a comparative perspective. In the 1990s
in Australia the question was raised why New South Wales would experience a much higher prisonerrate than the demographically similar state of Victoria316. Research came up with a mix of grounds.
In New South Wales more imprisonment for ﬁne default, longer prison sentences, and in particular ahigher rate of custodial sentences can be observed, while Victoria disposes of an additional alternative,
periodic detention. Such comparisons seem to become eﬀective within clusters of countries (or politicalentities) which are due to various reasons close to each other. However, comparisons may also resultin discourses headed towards increasing the size of the prison population. The Chairman of a Northern
Irish political party in 2005 and at the occasion of the publication of English prison ﬁgures expressedsurprise when noticing that Northern Ireland had prison population ﬁgures half of those in England/
Wales317. Referring to violence and security it was then stated that the public would not understandthat Northern Ireland resorts that rarely to imprisonment.
Financial crises and budgetary problems are sometimes cited as causing political change andencouraging decisions to revisit sentencing policies and early release procedures. A direct causal
relationship, however, is contended. Case studies from the United States are interpreted as showingthat states began to re-evaluate security policies and recognized that prison populations can be reduced
without a negative impact on public security318.
Answers to the question how to explain why reforms fail in producing sustained and durable
changes in prisons are diverse, too. Often, it is assumed that failure of new options in reducing prison
overcrowding is the consequence of deep rooted attitudes and beliefs of criminal justice oﬃcials who
continue to rely on deprivation of liberty, even if plausible alternatives are available319. In Chile, theabsence of data showing an impact of the reform of rules and practices of pretrial detention have been
noted as an explanation why a counter reform succeeded after a public debate on whether security had
been compromised by strengthening proportionality in decisions on pretrial detention.
Financial problems certainly play a crucial role in achieving sustainability. Projects are sometimes
based on resources which are available for a limited period of time. Failure of finding permanent
funding may explain why quite some projects discontinue or cannot be expanded.
Prisons then are regarded to be low priority issues in all political systems and that there is little
awareness of prison conditions among the public 320. Moreover, criminal justice and correctional
systems may be more or less exposed to partisan politics dependent on the political system andthe extent of insulation of the judiciary from political pressure. It can be assumed that partisan
politics bring more instability in the course practices of sentencing, early release, amnesties, prison
315 Jacobs, J.B.: Finding Alternatives to the Carceral State. social research 74(2007), pp. 695-699.
316 Gallagher, P.: Why does NSW have a higher imprisonment rate than Victoria? NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics
and Research, Crime and Justice Bulletin, May 1995.
317 www.allianceparty.org/news/001618/surprise̲at̲prison̲population̲ﬁgures.html (10th Sep 2005).
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319 Schwartz, O.: Ebb Tide: The Russian Reforms of 2001 and Their Reversal. In: Open Society Institute (ed.):Justice Initiatives. Pretrial Detention. New York 2008, pp. 103-119, p. 317.

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construction and prison regimes take. The question then arises how political will and political practices
can be initiated321 which are in line with international standards and the body of principles which,in theory, provide for blueprints, models and all instruments needed to contain prison populations.
A similar question may be raised with respect to how the community and social elites can be madeinterested in prison reform. There are interesting cases which describe that interest can be raised322
and in fact placing the focus on practices instead of norms (which are a field for legal specialists)
could provide more opportunities and perhaps more incentives for participation at justice and prison
reform323.
If political will is in fact decisive for success or failure of prison reform, then general theoretical
approaches to the explanation why state actors comply with rules and standards should be pursued324.

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