World Prisons

Insights

What the dataset shows at a glance

A handful of curated views over our 17,440 facilities and 162 countries. Hand-built rather than computed in JavaScript on every load — refreshed every 30 minutes.

17,440

Facilities indexed

17,440

Country-linked

7.4M

Tracked prisoners (top 15 countries)

15

Countries with stale data (≥1 year)

Most overcrowded facilities worldwide

Capacity ≥ 50 beds, current population > capacity. Sorted by occupancy %.

  1. 1.
    La Esperanza (Mariona)El Salvador
    33,000/5,200635%
  2. 2.
    New Bilibid PrisonPhilippines
    27,000/6,345426%
  3. 3.
    Centro de Detenção Provisória de Manaus (Puraquequara)Brazil
    1,100/454242%
  4. 4.
    Pollsmoor Maximum Security PrisonSouth Africa
    7,800/4,336180%
  5. 5.
    Tihar JailIndia
    18,000/10,026180%
  6. 6.
    HMP WandsworthUnited Kingdom
    1,500/943159%
  7. 7.
    Ofer PrisonIsrael
    1,100/700157%
  8. 8.
    Bang Kwang Central PrisonThailand
    7,500/5,000150%
  9. 9.
    Maison d'arrêt de Fleury-MérogisFrance
    4,200/2,855147%
  10. 10.
    HMP BarlinnieUnited Kingdom
    1,450/987147%
  11. 11.
    HMP PentonvilleUnited Kingdom
    1,240/906137%
  12. 12.
    Klong Prem Central PrisonThailand
    9,500/7,000136%
  13. 13.
    Maison d'arrêt de la SantéFrance
    900/808111%
  14. 14.
    San Quentin Rehabilitation CenterUnited States
    3,300/3,082107%
  15. 15.
    HMP WhitemoorUnited Kingdom
    458/458100%
  16. 16.
    HMP FranklandUnited Kingdom
    850/850100%
  17. 17.
    Black Dolphin Prison (IK-6)Russia
    700/700100%

Highest computed Conditions Risk

Top 20 by our 0–100 risk score (combines overcrowding, oversight reports, structural factors, deaths, and conditions narrative). Methodology.

  1. 1.
    La Esperanza (Mariona)El Salvador
    Elevated
  2. 2.
    HMP WandsworthUnited Kingdom
    Elevated
  3. 3.
    New Bilibid PrisonPhilippines
    Elevated
  4. 4.
    Bang Kwang Central PrisonThailand
    Elevated
  5. 5.
    Rikers IslandUnited States
    Elevated
  6. 6.
    Ofer PrisonIsrael
    Elevated
  7. 7.
    Centro de Detenção Provisória de Manaus (Puraquequara)Brazil
    Moderate
  8. 8.
    Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT)El Salvador
    Moderate
  9. 9.
    Tihar JailIndia
    Moderate
  10. 10.
    Pollsmoor Maximum Security PrisonSouth Africa
    Moderate
  11. 11.
    MCC New YorkUnited States
    Moderate
  12. 12.
    Guantanamo Bay Detention CampUnited States
    Moderate
  13. 13.
    IK-3 'Polar Wolf'Russia
    Moderate
  14. 14.
    HMP FranklandUnited Kingdom
    Moderate
  15. 15.
    USP ThomsonUnited States
    Moderate
  16. 16.
    HMP Cookham WoodUnited Kingdom
    Moderate
  17. 17.
    HMP BarlinnieUnited Kingdom
    Moderate
  18. 18.
    Maison d'arrêt de Fleury-MérogisFrance
    Moderate
  19. 19.
    FCI TallahasseeUnited States
    Moderate
  20. 20.
    FCI DublinUnited States
    Moderate

Largest prison populations

  1. 1. United States
    1,833,700
  2. 2. China
    1,690,000
  3. 3. Brazil
    909,067
  4. 4. India
    511,542
  5. 5. Türkiye
    420,798
  6. 6. Thailand
    301,020
  7. 7. Russia
    282,000
  8. 8. Indonesia
    276,136
  9. 9. Mexico
    261,388
  10. 10. Iran
    189,000
  11. 11. Philippines
    171,247
  12. 12. South Africa
    168,672
  13. 13. Vietnam
    133,986
  14. 14. Argentina
    133,585
  15. 15. Egypt
    120,000

Highest rate per 100,000

  1. 1. El Salvador
    1659
  2. 2. Cuba
    794
  3. 3. United States
    542
  4. 4. Panama
    527
  5. 5. Türkiye
    489
  6. 6. Rwanda
    489
  7. 7. Thailand
    428
  8. 8. Brazil
    416
  9. 9. Argentina
    284
  10. 10. South Africa
    267
  11. 11. Morocco
    253
  12. 12. Iran
    228
  13. 13. Israel
    217
  14. 14. New Zealand
    211
  15. 15. Venezuela
    199

Biggest data gaps

Countries where our last source verification is > 1 year old, sorted by prison population. High up here = priority for the next refresh.

Recent material changes

Last 20 substantive updates from our importers. New-facility events are suppressed here (otherwise the Wikidata sweep would drown the rest).

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