Human Rights
Cuba is among the countries with the highest prison population rate on the planet
Even with outdated data, which correspond to 2012, Cuba enters the "top 5" among the countries with the most prisoners in the world
January 25, 2022 8:57pm
Updated: January 25, 2022 11:27pm
Cuba ranks fifth in prison population per 100,000 inhabitants, according to a scale published in December by the Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research (ICPR), developed at the University of London, UK.
With 510 prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants, only the United States (629) is above Cuba, followed by Rwanda (580), Turkmenistan (576) and El Salvador (564), according to the World Prison Population List report.
According to the report, which uses data from May 2012, some 57,337 people were held in Cuban prisons. Currently, the figure could be higher considering the opacity of official statistics and the massive arrests following the protests of July 2021.
During the July-December 2021 period, Cuban authorities detained 5,000 citizens who participated in the protests, of whom about 800 would still be imprisoned or awaiting trial, according to data published by the Center for a Free Cuba (CCL).
It is "a number much lower than the real number" warned the CCL about the report, adding that "the conditions of many detainees are unknown due to the repression against their relatives, which prevents them from speaking and providing information" and "there are still trials to be held and convictions to be confirmed."
ICPR notes that the prison population continues to increase in many parts of the world although 53% of all countries have rates of less than 150 prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants.
The global prison population rate is 140/100,000, according to United Nations estimates of national population levels.
The study puts the world's total prison population at 10.77 million, but this figure could exceed 11.5 million if the estimated number in detention centers in China and prison camps in North Korea are included.
In early 2020, the Madrid-based organization Prisoners Defenders (PD) presented a report that estimated the number of prisoners in Cuban jails at 90,000, which would make Cuba the country with the largest prison population in the world on scale with 794 prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants.
