Highest to Lowest

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Please use drop down menu 1 to choose the category of data you wish to view, and press 'Go' to load category page. Once the page has reloaded please choose the continent/region from drop down menu 2 and then press 'Apply'.

Data shown in the highest to lowest lists are the most recent available but not necessarily from the same date. Please click on each individual country to see the date to which the data refer. As it is not possible to obtain meaningful comparative data on numbers of children in custody in different countries, we do not include juvenile imprisonment data in the highest to lowest lists.

Ranking Title Prison Population Total Prison Population Rate Pre-trial Detainees (%) Female Prisoners (%) Foreign Prisoners (%) Occupancy Level (%)
  Ecuador 32940 178 34.2 5.6 8.1 118.9
  Colombia 102626 198 22.1 6.3 1.3 125.3
  Paraguay 17712 239 67.0 5.2 4.2 171.6
  French Guiana/Guyane (France) 1022 312 27.9 6.8 63.0 165.9
  Chile 56322 296 37.1 8.1 3.4 91.3
  Peru 96358 282 37.1 5.2 5.0 231.9
  Argentina 117810 254 41.7 4.1 4.9 118.5
  Bolivia 25291 209 66.2 6.1 3.3 287.8
  Brazil 839672 390 26.9 5.4 0.3 173.9
  Uruguay 14965 424 12.7 7.4 2.8 130.1
  Guyana 2156 271 27.0 2.8 1.5 151.0
  Venezuela 67200 199 62.5 7.8 2.3 163.8
  Suriname 1000 185 50.0 2.8 19.3 75.2