Georgia ranks 1st in Council of Europe for number of prisoners, Open Society Georgia representative says

Georgia holds the highest number of prisoners among Council of Europe member states, Giorgi Burjanadze, a representative of Open Society Georgia, said on Friday.

He said the ranking was based on recently published data by the Council of Europe.

Burjanadze noted that Georgia also ranked first when combining the total number of prisoners and individuals under probation across Europe. According to the report, Georgia is second among Council of Europe countries in the number of probationers when measured per 100,000 population - a figure that amounts to around 22,000 people but is considered proportionally high relative to population size.

“A study was recently published within the Council of Europe framework that presents statistical information on probation figures across member states. Based on this study, Georgia ranks second in terms of probationers per 100,000 population [...] Additionally, the report presents data on the number of inmates and in this category Georgia ranks first among all Council of Europe states,” Burjanadze said.