Laos

Total prison population:
11,885
Country
Laos
Ministry responsible
Ministry of Public Security
Prison administration
Department of Prisons and Rehabilitation
Contact address

Nongbone Road, Xaysettha district, Vientiane muncipality
Laos

Head of prison administration
(Colonel) Savaeng Phomaly, Director

Prison population data

Prison population total (including pre-trial detainees / remand prisoners) 11,885
at June 2018 (national prison administration, via UN Human Rights Committee)
Prison population rate (per 100,000 of national population) 166
based on an estimated national population of 7.15 million at June 2018 (from United Nations figures)
Pre-trial detainees / remand prisoners (percentage of prison population) Circac. 67.0%
(2016)
Female prisoners (percentage of prison population) 13.7%
(June 2018)
Number of establishments / institutions 19
(2016)

Prison population trend

Year Prison population total Prison population rate
4,020 70
c. 6,000 c. 94
8,201 119

Prison population total

Prison population rate

Female prison population: trend

The table below gives an indication of the trend in the female prison population. The final row shows the latest figures available.

It consists of the number of female prisoners in the prison population on a single date in the year (or the annual average) and the percentage of the total prison population that female prisoners constituted on that day.  

The final column shows the female prison population rate per 100,000 of the national population. 

                                              LAOS

YearNumber of
female
prisoners
Percentage
of total
prison population
Female prison
population rate
(per 100,000 of
national population)
2004
2016
421
1,503
10.5%
18.3%
7.3
21.8
20181,62813.7%22.8

The number of female prisoners fluctuates and so the above figures give an indication of the trend but the picture is inevitably incomplete.

The female prison population rate is calculated on the basis of the national population total. All national population figures are inevitably estimates but the estimates used in the World Prison Brief are based on official national figures, United Nations figures or figures from other recognised international authorities.

(If the rate were calculated on the basis of the number of females in the national population it would of course be approximately double the figure in the final column.)

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