Malta has amongst the highest rates of female prisoners in Europe, a new Council of Europe report shows, with just under one in ten prisoners being a woman.

That is almost twice as many as the European average of five, but behind fellow European minnows Andorra, Iceland and Cyprus.

The Council of Europe's annual report takes stock of prisons across Europe, finding that just over a million people are currently held in Europe’s prisons.

Half of Malta’s inmates are foreign

The report says that Malta’s incarceration rate is in line with most other European countries, with 107 inmates for every 100,000 residents, for a total of some 581 prisoners.

Maltese inmates have an average age of 38, with a little over one in every ten prisoners being between the ages of 14 and 25.

Half of Malta’s inmates are foreign nationals, according to the study, almost twice as much as the European average of 27%. The vast majority of foreign inmates, just over 80%, are non-EU nationals.

Over one in three inmates waiting for a final sentence

Shedding light on Malta’s well-documented court delays, the study also finds that over a third of all inmates in Malta, 39%, are still awaiting a final sentence and are incarcerated on remand.

Inmates serve an average of almost 11 months in Malta, again in line with the European average.

Inmates in Portugal get the short end of the stick, serving over 30 months on average, the most in Europe. Those in Switzerland, on the other hand, are out after just two months, fewer than any other European country.

Drug charges the leading cause of incarceration

Just like most other European countries, drug charges are comfortably the single most common reason why people in Malta may find themselves behind bars, according to the study.

A quarter of all inmates in Malta have been incarcerated because of drug-related offences, with a further 16% for homicide or attempted homicide. Theft is far less common, with just 5% of all prisoners responding to theft charges.

The report also finds that Malta’s prisons are generally well-staffed, with a staff member for every 1.2 inmates.