World Prisons
All countries

Asia · Western Asia

Saudi Arabia

High confidence
Verified 20 May 2026 · Data dated 1 Jan 2019
Fresh · 1mo ago

Public statistics extremely limited. Figure is a WPB estimate.

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Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date.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

48,660

Year: 2019

Rate per 100,000

140

Per 100,000 residents

Occupancy

—

At or under capacity

Pre-trial / remand

48.3%

Share not yet sentenced

Female prisoners

1.9%

Foreign nationals

51.4%

Conditions risk — across 27 facilities

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

—
national average
27 unknown
retentionist on capital punishment. Last known execution: 2025.Methods: beheadingICCPR-OP2 (death-penalty abolition protocol): not a signatory

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

Executions by year (Amnesty International)
  • 2019
    184
  • 2020
    27
  • 2021
    65
  • 2022
    196
  • 2023
    172
  • 2024
    345
Source: Amnesty International + Cornell Death Penalty Worldwide.

How Saudi Arabia compares

vs Asia (16) & global averages
Rate per 100,000this: 140 · region: 165 · global: 214
Pre-trial sharethis: 48% · region: 32% · 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
1998: 23,088+110.8% over 21y2019: 48,660

Source: World Prison Brief / unodc

What we know — and don't

Transparency about the boundaries of this data. Click sources where linked.

What we don't know

  • Official annual figures not released; capacity and demographics unpublished.

Prisons in Saudi Arabia

Browse all 27 →

27 facilities in our database — showing the first 24.

Abha General Prison

Saudi Arabia · Abha

Type

Prison

Capacity

—

Held

—

Al-Ha'ir Prison

Saudi Arabia · Riyadh

Maximum

Type

Prison

Capacity

—

Held

—

Al-Malaz Prison

Saudi Arabia · Riyadh

Type

Prison

Capacity

—

Held

—

Al-Shmeisi Deportation Center

Saudi Arabia · Riyadh

Type

Immigration Detention

Capacity

—

Held

—

Buraydah General Prison

Saudi Arabia · Buraydah

Type

Prison

Capacity

—

Held

—

Dammam General Prison

Saudi Arabia · Dammam

Type

Prison

Capacity

—

Held

—

Dammam prison

Saudi Arabia

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

Dhahban Central Prison

Saudi Arabia

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

Dhahban Prison

Saudi Arabia · Jeddah

Maximum

Type

Prison

Capacity

—

Held

—

dr lmlHZ@ ljtm`y@

Saudi Arabia

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

dr@ sjn l'Hs

Saudi Arabia

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

Jeddah General Prison

Saudi Arabia · Jeddah

Type

Prison

Capacity

—

Held

—

lsjn l`m

Saudi Arabia

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

lsjn l`m

Saudi Arabia

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

lsjn l`m b`r`r

Saudi Arabia

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

Medina General Prison

Saudi Arabia · Medina

Type

Prison

Capacity

—

Held

—

Riyadh Deportation Prison

Saudi Arabia · Riyadh

Type

Immigration Detention

Capacity

—

Held

—

sjn 'bh

Saudi Arabia

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

sjn bryd@ lmrkzy

Saudi Arabia

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

sjn dhhbn

Saudi Arabia

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

sjn Hfr lbTn

Saudi Arabia

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

sjn lTrfy@

Saudi Arabia

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

sjn mHfZ@ lrs

Saudi Arabia

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

sjn skk

Saudi Arabia

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

See all 27 prisons in Saudi Arabia →

Data completeness

85%

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

National population
34,810,0002019
Source-verified
20 May 2026
Source links
2 cited

Sources

Direct citations for the figures on this page.

ISO 3166-1 alpha-3
SAU