Three million people on remand worldwide

Completely different traits the world over

Properly over three million individuals are held in pre-trial detention and different types of remand imprisonment all through the world, based on the newest version of the World Pre-trial/Remand Imprisonment Record (WPTRIL), revealed yesterday (8 December 2025) by the Institute for Crime & Justice Coverage Analysis at Birkbeck, College of London. 

Pre-trial detainees

Prisoners in pre-trial detention or on remand (‘pre-trial detainees’) are those that, in reference to an alleged offence or offences, are disadvantaged of liberty following a judicial or different authorized course of however haven’t been definitively sentenced. Greater than 3 million pre-trial detainees are held in 218 nations. The general whole will probably be properly over three million when accounting for: greater than 200,000 such prisoners believed to be held in China; detainees omitted from nationwide totals in some nations as a result of they’re held in police amenities on the pre-court stage; and people held within the different seven nations the place official data is just not obtainable.

The entire contains greater than 467,000 in the USA, 389,000 in India, 214,000 in Brazil, 117,000 within the Philippines, 112,000 in Russia, 102,000 in Mexico, 74,000 in Pakistan, 67,000 in Thailand, 62,000 in Turkey, and 61,000 in Bangladesh.

In about half of all nations in Africa, greater than 40% of the jail inhabitants are pre-trial detainees. The nations with the best pre-trial detention ranges (as a proportion of whole prisoners), excluding two nations with very small nationwide populations, are:

Lebanon (87%), Haiti (82%), Bangladesh (76%), India (74%), Pakistan (73%), Mali (72%), American Samoa (70%), Gabon (70%), Democratic Republic of the Congo (70%) and Sri Lanka (69%),

Variations

There are appreciable variations between the continents and between nations in traits in pre-trial detention ranges since 2000:

The African whole has risen by 24%, with numbers trebling in Angola, Benin, Egypt, Gabon, Mali, Mauritius, Namibia, Senegal and Sierra Leone.
The entire within the Americas has elevated by 59%, with numbers trebling in Bolivia and Paraguay and greater than doubling in Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Guatemala, Peru, Venezuela and a few smaller nations.
The entire in Asia has elevated by 74%, with numbers rising six-fold in Cambodia, trebling in Malaysia, Jordan and the Philippines and doubling in India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Lebanon. In contrast, the variety of pre-trial detainees has fallen by 57% in Kazakhstan.
The entire in Europe has fallen by 28%, primarily because of the substantial fall within the Russian Federation (52%) and enormous falls additionally within the Baltic states and within the Czech Republic, Moldova, Poland and Romania in central/japanese Europe. If the Russian figures are omitted, the European whole is 7% decrease than the entire in about 2000.
The entire in Oceania has elevated by 313%, pushed by greater than four-fold improve in pre-trial detainees in Australia and the practically six-fold improve in New Zealand.

Conclusions

In brief, numbers of pre-trial detainees have grown quickly within the Americas, Asia and Oceania – far outstripping normal inhabitants development in these three continents. In contrast, Africa has seen an increase within the variety of pre-trial detainees that’s lower than half that of the expansion within the normal inhabitants.

Since in regards to the yr 2000, the variety of pre-trial detainees has grown by practically 40%. That is 5% greater than the expansion on the planet’s normal inhabitants since that point. The substantial falls since about 2000 which were famous within the pre-trial detainees in Rwanda and the Russian Federation have had a big impact on the change in world pre-trial detainee ranges. If these nations are omitted from the entire, the variety of pre-trial detainees in the remainder of the world has grown by 57%.

Common readers will know that the remand inhabitants in England and Wales is at its highest ever degree with 56,192 remanded in custody by Crown Courts within the 12 month interval to 30 June 2025.

Due to Andy Aitchison for variety permission to make use of the header picture on this publish. You possibly can see Andy’s work right here