Thursday, February 7, 2008 - 08:00h

Increase in alternative forms of sentencing

The prison population continues to grow
38% more individuals have served sentences of this type in 2007

The number of adults and minors who have served custodial sentences or been subject to mediation processes in 2007 was 31,108, according to data provided in the seventh information bulletin on penal statistics published by the Department of Justice.

The figure of over 30,000 individuals shows an increase of 10.73% over those dealt with in 2006. The increase is largely attributable to the 38.13% increase over the last year in the number serving alternative forms of sentence (MPA).

New types of offence have made a substantial contribution to the increase in alternative forms of sentence. The clearest example is that now nearly half of those subject to this type of sentence (40.85%) are guilty of road safety offences. In 2003 they accounted for only two out of every ten sentences.

The prison population has grown by 4.74% in 2007, which means that there are now 425 more inmates that in 2006.

Over the last year there has been a notable increase in those held on remand, who now account for 23% of detainees. The distribution by gender has undergone a slight change, in that the percentage of women has risen from 6.8% of all detainees to 7.4%. By nationality, foreigners account for half of those entering penal institutions (54%) and make up 40.2% of the total prison population. 16% of them are from European Union countries.