Europe · Western Europe
Germany
Operated at Land (state) level. Strong resocialisation mandate; one of the lowest incarceration rates among large EU nations.
Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date.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
59,413
Year: 2024
Rate per 100,000
71
Per 100,000 residents
Occupancy
82.2%
At or under capacity
Pre-trial / remand
26.3%
Share not yet sentenced
Female prisoners
5.6%
Foreign nationals
48.8%
Conditions risk — across 1000 facilities
Average of our computed Conditions Risk Score across the country's facilities. Methodology · Browse highest-risk
Seeded from Amnesty International 2024 categorisation + Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide.
How Germany compares
vs Europe (16) & global averagesThe 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 yearSource: World Prison Brief / unodc / eurostat / Council of Europe SPACE I
Reform in Germany
All reform →Laws, programmes, and pilots changing how Germany incarcerates — plus relevant research.
- Constitutional rehabilitation mandate1973–ongoing
rehabilitation · active
Since the Federal Constitutional Court's 1973 Lebach decision and subsequent rulings, German prison policy is constitutionally bound to a rehabilitation goal grounded in Article 1 (human dignity). Subsequent court decisions have required the state to make rehabilitation efforts a positive duty, not a privilege.
Prisons in Germany
Browse all 1,930 →1,930 facilities in our database — showing the first 24.
Abschiebungshafteinrichtung Gluckstadt
Germany
Type
—
Capacity
—
Held
—
Abschiebungshafteinrichtung Munchen
Germany
Type
—
Capacity
—
Held
—
Abschiebungshafteinrichtung Pforzheim
Germany
Type
—
Capacity
150
Held
—
Abteroda concentration camp
Germany
Type
Concentration camp
Capacity
—
Held
—
Abteroda men's concentration camp
Germany
Type
Concentration camp
Capacity
—
Held
—
Abteroda women's concentration camp
Germany
Type
Concentration camp
Capacity
—
Held
—
Ahrensbök concentration camp
Germany
Type
—
Capacity
—
Held
—
Ahrensbök-Holstendorf concentration camp
Germany
Type
Concentration camp
Capacity
—
Held
—
Alexisdorf concentration camp
Germany
Type
Concentration camp
Capacity
—
Held
—
Allach concentration camp complex
Germany
Type
Concentration camp
Capacity
—
Held
—
Alt Daber concentration camp
Germany
Type
Concentration camp
Capacity
—
Held
—
Alt Garge concentration camp
Germany
Type
Concentration camp
Capacity
—
Held
—
Altenberg concentration camp
Germany
Type
Concentration camp
Capacity
—
Held
—
Altenburg concentration camp
Germany
Type
Concentration camp
Capacity
—
Held
—
Altenburg men's concentration camp
Germany
Type
Concentration camp
Capacity
—
Held
—
Altenburg women's concentration camp
Germany
Type
Concentration camp
Capacity
—
Held
—
Altenhain concentration camp
Germany
Type
Concentration camp
Capacity
—
Held
—
Altenhammer concentration camp
Germany
Type
Concentration camp
Capacity
—
Held
—
Am GroÃen Specken 10
Germany
Type
—
Capacity
—
Held
—
Amtsgericht
Germany
Type
—
Capacity
—
Held
—
Amtsgericht Wetter
Germany · Wetter (Ruhr)
Type
—
Capacity
—
Held
—
Amtsgerichtsgefängnis GerichtsstraÃe 11 in Nittenau
Germany
Type
—
Capacity
—
Held
—
AmtsgerichtsstraÃe 59
Germany
Type
—
Capacity
—
Held
—
Amtspforte
Germany
Type
—
Capacity
—
Held
—
Data completeness
100%Score based on how many fields are populated. We surface this so you know where the gaps are.
- National population
- 83,470,0002024
- Source-verified
- 20 May 2026
- Source links
- 2 cited
Sources
Direct citations for the figures on this page.
- Primary reference
- Council of Europe â SPACE statistics — Council of Europe
- World Prison Brief (ICPS, Birkbeck) — Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research
- See /data-sources for our methodology.
- ISO 3166-1 alpha-3
- DEU