World Prisons
All countries

Europe · Eastern Europe

Poland

High confidence
Verified 20 May 2026 · Data dated 31 Mar 2026
Fresh · 1mo ago

Among the highest incarceration rates in the EU.

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Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date.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

70,786

Year: 2026

Rate per 100,000

195

Per 100,000 residents

Occupancy

83.1%

At or under capacity

Pre-trial / remand

11.2%

Share not yet sentenced

Female prisoners

5.4%

Foreign nationals

4.1%

Conditions risk — across 1000 facilities

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

—
national average
1000 unknown
abolitionist on capital punishment since 1997. Last known execution: 1988.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.
243 documented human-rights cases →

How Poland compares

vs Europe (16) & global averages
Rate per 100,000this: 195 · region: 102 · global: 214
Occupancy ratethis: 83% · region: 97% · global: 125%
Pre-trial sharethis: 11% · region: 29% · 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: 70,544-1.0% over 24y2024: 69,850

Source: World Prison Brief / unodc / eurostat / Council of Europe SPACE I

Prisons in Poland

Browse all 1,109 →

1,109 facilities in our database — showing the first 24.

"Mexico" - third construction section of the Birkenau concentration camp

Poland

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

1st penitentiary facility in Wrocław

Poland

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

Abitzau concentration camp

Poland

Type

Concentration camp

Capacity

—

Held

—

Abramowice concentration camp

Poland

Type

Concentration camp

Capacity

—

Held

—

Adampol concentration camp

Poland

Type

Concentration camp

Capacity

—

Held

—

Adelnau concentration camp

Poland

Type

Concentration camp

Capacity

—

Held

—

Adlershorst concentration camp

Poland

Type

Concentration camp

Capacity

—

Held

—

Adlerweide concentration camp

Poland

Type

Concentration camp

Capacity

—

Held

—

Alt Dzikow concentration camp

Poland

Type

Concentration camp

Capacity

—

Held

—

Alt Latzig concentration camp

Poland

Type

Concentration camp

Capacity

—

Held

—

Alt Laube concentration camp

Poland

Type

Concentration camp

Capacity

—

Held

—

Altdorf

Poland

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

Altdorf concentration camp

Poland

Type

Concentration camp

Capacity

—

Held

—

Altendorf concentration camp

Poland

Type

Concentration camp

Capacity

—

Held

—

Althammer concentration camp

Poland

Type

Concentration camp

Capacity

—

Held

—

Amsee concentration camp

Poland

Type

Concentration camp

Capacity

—

Held

—

Andrichau concentration camp

Poland

Type

Concentration camp

Capacity

—

Held

—

Andrzejów concentration camp

Poland

Type

Concentration camp

Capacity

—

Held

—

Anhalt O/S concentration camp

Poland

Type

Concentration camp

Capacity

—

Held

—

Antonienhütte concentration camp

Poland

Type

Concentration camp

Capacity

—

Held

—

Arbeitserziehungslager Litzmannstadt

Poland

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

Arbeitshaus Schweidnitz

Poland

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

Arbeitslager Narvik

Poland

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

Arbeitslager Riese

Poland

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

See all 1,109 prisons in Poland →

Data completeness

90%

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

National population
36,330,0002026
Source-verified
20 May 2026
Source links
2 cited

Sources

Direct citations for the figures on this page.

ISO 3166-1 alpha-3
POL