World Prisons
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Americas · Central America

Panama

High confidence
Verified 20 May 2026 · Data dated 28 Feb 2026
Fresh · 9d ago

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

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Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date.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

7%

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

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

Annual figures, latest survey year
2000: 8,652+107.7% over 20y2020: 17,967

Prisons in Panama

Browse all 10 →

10 facilities in our database. Panama has many more facilities than listed here; we're expanding the database with verified entries.

Albergue Masculino de Detencion

Panama

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

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Centro de Custodia y Cumplimiento Aurelio Grandado

Panama

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

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Centro Femenino de Rehabilitacion

Panama

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

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Centro Penitenciario Masculino

Panama · Chiriquí

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

Centro Penitenciaro La Gran Joya

Panama · Panamá

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

Centro Penitensiario Femenino

Panama · Los Agarrobos

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

Complejo Carcelario El Renacer

Panama

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

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Residencia Femenina

Panama

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

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Sistema Penitenciario de Deborah

Panama

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

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Tribunal Tutelar De Menores

Panama

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
4,680,0002026
Source-verified
20 May 2026
Source links
1 cited

Sources

Direct citations for the figures on this page.