As of January 2023, 78% of inmates in Luxembourg penal institutions were foreign nationals, achieving the highest percentage of foreign prisoners in Europe in countries with over half a million inhabitants. Switzerland recorded 71%, followed by Greece with 57%.
In April, Justice Minister Elisabeth Margue published details on Luxembourg’s prison population, which at the time numbered just over 600 inmates. The most common nationalities were said to be Luxembourgish, Portuguese, and French, while theft and drug offences were the main reasons for incarceration.
According to the Council of Europe’s report, published on 6 June, violent or drug-related crimes are linked to more than half of all prison sentences across Europe. Drug offences were most common at 19%, followed by homicide and attempted homicide (13%), theft (12%), sexual offences (8.9%), robbery (7.7%), and assault and battery (6.7%).
The Grand Duchy also ranked relatively highly for the number of people in pre-trial detention. The three prison administrations with the highest proportions of pre-trial detainees were Albania (55%), Armenia (53%), and Luxembourg (49%).
The report also looked at suicide rates among the prison population in 2022. While Latvia topped the ranking with a rate of 21.7 per 10,000 inmates, followed by Switzerland (20.2), and France (19.1). Luxembourg recorded a rate of 14.2 per 10,000 inmates.
40-year-anniversary: Everyday life at Schrassig penitentiary centre
