Logo of Phnom Penh Post newspaper Phnom Penh Post - Asia’s prison population

Asia’s prison population

Content image - Phnom Penh Post
ANN/DataLEADS

Asia’s prison population

NEW DELHI (DataLEADS/ANN) - China has the largest prison population in Asia, more than four times as large as India. However, when it comes to prison population rates, Thailand has the highest incarceration rate in the region

Around the world more than 10.35 million people are imprisoned either as pretrial detainees or having been convicted and sentenced, according to the report of UK-based Institute of Criminal Policy Research.

The USA has the highest prison population in the world with around 2.2 million incarcerated. China, which is four times more populous than the United States, is a distant second, with 1.6 million people in prison. The country has the highest prison population in Asia. The report mentions that the figures could be much higher for China since it does not include those in pretrial detentions and administrative detentions.

India’s prison population is second highest in Asia. Although the prison population rate is relatively low, the Indian prisons are overcrowded with 70 per cent of detainees as ‘undertrials’ or remand detainees who are awaiting final decrees in their cases.

Thailand has the third highest prison population in Asia. But​ ​with​ ​425 prisoners for every 100,000 people, Thailand has the tenth highest incarceration rate in the world and the highest in Asia. With fourth highest prison population in Asia, Indonesia has 64 prisoners for every 100,000 citizens. Vietnam and Philippines follow at fifth and sixth position respectively.

Pakistan is at number seven in Asia with slightly more than 80,000 prisoners. The prison population rate of the country has seen a slump from 57 per cent in 2005 to 43 per cent in 2016. Bangladesh has 69,719 prisoners putting it at number eight in Asia.

Taiwan has the ninth highest prison population in Asia although the prison population rate has been seeing a decline from 282 to 272 in 2016. It is followed by Japan and Myanmar at tenth and eleventh position respectively.

Malaysia has twelfth highest prison population in Asia. The country has seen a surge in prison population percentage from 137 to 171 in 2016. South Korea is at number thirteen in Asia with around fifty thousand prisoners. It is followed by Sri Lanka,Nepal, Cambodia and Singapore that are at fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth position respectively.

With less than five thousand prisoners Laos, Bhutan and Brunei are the three countries with the least number of prison population.

According to the report world prison population total has grown by almost 20 per cent which is slightly above the estimated 18 per cent increase in the world’s general population over the same period.

MOST VIEWED

  • 12th Cambodia int’l film festival to see return of Hollywood star

    Phnom Penh is set to come alive with the magic of cinema as the highly anticipated 12th Cambodia International Film Festival (CIFF) takes centre stage. Boasting an impressive line-up of 188 films from 23 countries, including captivating shorts, feature films, documentaries and animation, the festival promises an

  • Brawl marrs football final as Indonesian take gold in seven goal thriller

    The Indonesian men's U22 men national football team were crowned champions of the 32nd SEA Games in Cambodia, defeating Thailand 5-2 in extra time on May 16 at Olympic National Stadium in Phnom Penh. The match was marred by an ugly incident that occured in the 91

  • Bareknuckle champion wants Kun Khmer fighter

    Dave Leduc, who is the current openweight Lethwei boxing champion in Myanmar, has announced that he will travel to Cambodia this year to challenge SEA Games gold medallist Prum Samnang any time that is convenient, after their planned match later this month in Slovakia was

  • Candlelight Party disqualified from July general election

    The National Election Committee (NEC) has disqualified the Candlelight Party (CP) from contesting the upcoming general election, citing a lack of valid documentation. NEC spokesman Khorn Keomono said the CP failed to fulfil one of the three main requirements: including original documentation proving their registration

  • Thong Khon calls for orderly SEA Games closing ceremony

    Thong Khon, Minister of Tourism and permanent vice-president of the Cambodia SEA Games Organising Committee (CAMSOC), calls on all people who have received tickets to the May 17 closing ceremony of the biennial multi-sports extravaganza at the Morodok Techo National Stadium to ensure that the event

  • 1.4 billion dollar Phnom Penh-Bavet expressway due in four years

    The Government, through the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, has officially signed a public-private partnership agreement with a private company for the construction of a Phnom Penh-Bavet Expressway project that will connect the capital to Svay Rieng province. The budget for the project is