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 34748 186 33.4 6.5 8.1 125.7
  Brazil 909067 416 23.6 5.9 0.3 135.6
  Paraguay 18764 250 64.9 5.5 24.4 182.8
  Chile 60351 316 35.4 8.4 3.4 91.3
  Peru 100603 292 37.4 5.2 5.3 240.9
  Colombia 103754 200 19.1 6.0 1.3 127.5
  French Guiana/Guyane (France) 1075 321 27.9 6.6 63.0 174.5
  Argentina 125041 268 38.8 4.1 6.8 120.5
  Uruguay 15767 449 12.7 7.9 2.8 130.1
  Suriname 808 134 32.8 3.1 19.3 102.0
  Guyana 2300 288 27.0 2.6 1.5 151.0
  Bolivia 31105 252 60.7 6.6 3.3 274.1
  Venezuela 67200 199 62.5 7.8 2.3 163.8