Corradino prison now among Europe’s most overcrowded, report finds
Prison population surges from below capacity to 118 inmates per 100 places within a year, more than a third awaiting sentencing
Malta’s prison population has increased from below capacity to severe overcrowding within a year, with Corradino now among Europe’s most overcrowded prisons, a Council of Europe study has found.
The annual Penal Statistics on Prison Populations survey, released on Tuesday, also shows that nearly a third of inmates in Malta’s prison are still awaiting sentencing and Corradino has an above-average proportion of women inmates compared to the rest of Europe.
The report highlights serious overcrowding and increasing proportions of older and women detainees in European prisons.
Malta is among a list of nine prisons with severe overcrowding, with 118 inmates per 100 places. In the 2024 report, Malta had registered 83 inmates per 100 detention places.
Overall in Europe the number of inmates per 100 places available increased from 94.7 to 95.2 from January 31, 2024 to January 31, 2025, with significant differences across countries.
In countries with over 500,000 inhabitants, 14 prison systems reported having more inmates than available places, with nine of them reporting severe overcrowding, including Malta. Türkiye and France topped the league with 131 inmates per 100 places.
In total, 16 out of 50 prison administrations reported inmate populations exceeding their stated capacity.
As of the end of January 2025, there were 1,107,921 individuals held in custody in the 51 prison administrations of Council of Europe member states.
Malta registered a 62% increase in prison population from 2005 to 2025
In Malta’s prisons, 51% of inmates were foreign nationals, the eighth highest overall in a list topped by Luxembourg with 78% of inmates being non-citizens.
Foreign nationals represented a substantial share of the prison population in some prison systems and a very small proportion in others, for several reasons, including migration flows, legal frameworks, and geopolitical factors. Overall, in Europe, 17% of inmates were non-citizens.
The report noted that the fact that the average proportion of European Union nationals among foreign inmates was 27% reflects European mobility and the EU's framework of freedom of movement, which allows citizens to live and work across member states.
Malta also registered the third highest proportion of women inmates with 8% of the prison population, after Hungary (8.8%) and Czechia (8.6%).
Overall, the proportion of women in the European prison population rose from 4.8% to 5.2% between January 2024 and January 2025, an 8.9% increase overall in countries with populations over 1 million inhabitants, which could reflect a shift in sentencing practices, offence patterns and the use of alternatives to imprisonment.
The staff-to-inmate ratio in Malta’s prison stands at 1.4 inmates per staff member which is equal to the median across Europe.
Across the countries surveyed, drug offences continued to be the most common crimes for which individuals were serving prison sentences (17.3%), followed by theft (12.1%). Around one out of every three sentenced prisoners was serving sentences for violent crimes, including homicide (10.9%), rape or other sexual offences (8.6%), assault (6.3%) and robbery (6.1%). Overall, 2.7% of prisoners had been convicted of road-traffic offences, and the same proportion of inmates had been convicted of economic or financial crimes.
Some 37% of inmates in Corradino are in pre-trial detention, above the European average of 30%. The Council of Europe’s survey pointed out that criminologists tend to perceive high percentages of detainees on remand in custody as an indicator of potential inefficiencies within the legal system, frequently relating to slow court procedures, resource inadequacies, or even the reliance on pre-trial detention as a punitive rather than precautionary measure.
However, the report added these interpretations are generalisations, and the actual circumstances can be more nuanced and influenced by a multitude of country-specific factors. For instance, countries with a high proportion of foreign inmates, such as Switzerland, may find it necessary to keep those without a legal residence status in pre-trial detention due to the risk of absconding.