Malta’s prison occupancy is the least overcrowded in the European Union, with an occupancy rate of some 65% of its total capacity, according to new data released by Eurostat.

The data, provided for 2021, found that overcrowding in Malta’s prison was the lowest in the EU, followed by Estonia and Latvia, which both had a prison occupancy rate of 66% of the total available space.

Comparatively, Cyprus had the highest prison occupancy rate in Europe at 146%, followed by Romania (116%) and France (114%).

In total, there were 475,038 imprisoned people in the EU, equivalent to 106 prisoners per 100,000 people. While the prisoner rate increased after a decline (104 prisoners per 100,000 people) in 2020, which Eurostat attributed to COVID-19 measures, it was still the second lowest figure recorded since the turn of the century.

Conversely, when compared to the population, Malta had the ninth-highest prisoner population in Europe with 118.97 prisoners per 100,000 people. According to Eurostat, Malta’s prison population stood at a total of 614 in 2021, falling from 864 in 2020.

The highest rates of imprisoned people in Europe in 2021 were registered in Hungary and Poland, which both had a rate of 191 prisoners per 100,000 people, followed by Slovakia with 185 prisoners per 100,000 people. The lowest rates were recorded in Finland (51 per 100,000), Slovenia (65 per 100,000) and the Netherlands (65 per 100,000).

In a 2021 report, however, the National Audit Office flagged overcrowding as one of the persistent issues at the Corradino Correctional Facility, saying that the 474 cells should ideally each house just one person.

The NAO found that the sharing of cells had become common practice, with one dormitory housing 140 inmates. It added that a planned €1.5 million investment that would add 100 cells to the prison would not be enough to afford prisoners ideal living standards.