How many people are imprisoned in Panama?

Panama's prison population is 24,651 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 Panama?

Panama's incarceration rate is approximately 527 people per 100,000 population.

How many prisons are there in Panama?

World Prisons indexes 10 individual facilities in Panama. Each entry links to a detail page with contact information, capacity, oversight reports, and known conditions.

All countries

Americas · Central America

Panama

Q: Does Panama have the death penalty?

Panama'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 28 Feb 2026

Aging · 3mo ago

Majority pre-trial population — one of the highest pre-trial percentages in the region.

Compare Panama 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Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date.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

24,651

Year: 2026

Rate per 100,000

527

Per 100,000 residents

Occupancy

167.8%

Severely overcrowded

Pre-trial / remand

35.3%

Share not yet sentenced

Female prisoners

3.8%

Foreign nationals

Figures from official sources · verified 20 May 2026 · methodology

Conditions risk — across 10 facilities

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

—

national average

10 unknown

abolitionist on capital punishment since 1903. Last known execution: 1903.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.

1 documented human-rights cases →

How Panama compares

vs Americas (9) & global averages

Rate per 100,000this: 527 · region: 487 · global: 214

Occupancy ratethis: 168% · region: 125% · global: 125%

Pre-trial sharethis: 35% · region: 34% · 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

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

National population: 4,680,0002026
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: PAN

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). Panama — prison statistics. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/countries/panama

Chicago

"Panama — prison statistics." World Prisons. Accessed August 30, 2026. https://worldprisons.com/countries/panama.

BibTeX

@misc{worldprisons-panama,
  author = {{World Prisons}},
  title = {Panama — prison statistics},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://worldprisons.com/countries/panama},
  urldate = {2026-08-30}
}