How many people are imprisoned in Colombia?

Colombia's prison population is 102,634 people. This figure aggregates all forms of detention counted by the source: sentenced prisoners, pre-trial detainees, and administrative detentions.

What is the incarceration rate in Colombia?

Colombia's incarceration rate is approximately 197 people per 100,000 population.

How many prisons are there in Colombia?

World Prisons indexes 202 individual facilities in Colombia. Each entry links to a detail page with contact information, capacity, oversight reports, and known conditions.

All countries

Americas · South America

Colombia

Q: Does Colombia have the death penalty?

Colombia's death-penalty status is: abolitionist. Seeded from Amnesty International 2024 categorisation + Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide.

High confidence

Verified 20 May 2026 · Data dated 30 Apr 2026

Aging · 5mo ago

Constitutional Court declared the prison system in an 'unconstitutional state of affairs' in 2013; rulings updated 2018, 2024.

Compare Colombia World Prison Brief page

Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date. Always verify with primary sources before acting on any figure. See data sources.

Prison population

102,634

Year: 2026

Rate per 100,000

197

Per 100,000 residents

Occupancy

126.7%

Above design capacity

Pre-trial / remand

17.8%

Share not yet sentenced

Female prisoners

5.7%

Foreign nationals

1.2%

Figures from official sources · verified 20 May 2026 · methodology

Conditions risk — across 202 facilities

Average of our computed Conditions Risk Score across the country's facilities. Methodology · Browse highest-risk

—

national average

202 unknown

abolitionist on capital punishment since 1910. Last known execution: 1909.ICCPR-OP2 (death-penalty abolition protocol): signatory

Seeded from Amnesty International 2024 categorisation + Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide.

Source: Amnesty International + Cornell Death Penalty Worldwide.

4 documented human-rights cases →

How Colombia compares

vs Americas (9) & global averages

Rate per 100,000this: 197 · region: 523 · global: 214

Occupancy ratethis: 127% · region: 130% · global: 125%

Pre-trial sharethis: 18% · region: 37% · global: 32%

The vertical ticks mark the global (grey) and regional (amber) means. Bars are clipped at the high end for readability.

Prison population over time

Annual figures, latest survey year

2000: 51,518+102.7% over 24y2024: 104,441

Source: World Prison Brief / unodc

Reform in Colombia

All reform →

Laws, programmes, and pilots changing how Colombia incarcerates — plus relevant research.

Co-housing for incarcerated mothers and infants2006–ongoing
conditions · active
Colombia permits children up to age three to live with their incarcerated mothers in specialised wings of women's prisons, with creche facilities, paediatric health care, and family-visit programmes.

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Held

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See all 202 prisons in Colombia →

Data completeness

100%

Score based on how many fields are populated. We surface this so you know where the gaps are.

National population: 52,210,0002026
Source-verified: 20 May 2026
Source links: 1 cited

Sources

Direct citations for the figures on this page.

Primary reference
World Prison Brief (ICPS, Birkbeck) — Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research
See /data-sources for our methodology.

ISO 3166-1 alpha-3: COL

Cite this page

Under CC-BY-4.0. Include the URL and access date; the site is a living reference and entries can change.

APA

World Prisons. (2026). Colombia — prison statistics. Retrieved October 14, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/countries/colombia

Chicago

"Colombia — prison statistics." World Prisons. Accessed October 14, 2026. https://worldprisons.com/countries/colombia.

BibTeX

@misc{worldprisons-colombia,
  author = {{World Prisons}},
  title = {Colombia — prison statistics},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://worldprisons.com/countries/colombia},
  urldate = {2026-10-14}
}