ANSAmed
Morocco scored 19th in a ranking assessing the number of detained prisoners per country, figuring as one of the states with the highest density of inmates – 76 thousand – on the planet, according to a report by the International Centre for Prison Studies of the University of London.
The report highlighted that taking into account its 34 million citizen base, Morocco’s index jumps to 0.22% with regard to Moroccans behind bars. The study analyzed data from 223 countries in total. . In the region of Maghreb, for example, Algeria with is 60,220 prisoners ranked 30th, while Tunisia was 57th with 23,686; Egypt, on the other hand, has 62 thousand prisoners but due to its vaster population recorded a lower index(0.07). The US dominated the ranking with a staggering number of detainees: 2 million and 217 thousand. China with (1,657,812) and Russia with (646,085) followed.
Italy recorded 52,434 inmates with a 0.08% index. According to the report, published every five years, on the basis of official data provided on a country by country basis as well as on UN records, Moroccan jails host 2.3 % of women and 2% of minors, while 42.3 % of prisoners are held in pre-trial detention. What is more concerning is that the 77 prisons of the kingdom have a total capacity to hold 40 thousand detainees which brings the inmate level to 90%. The problem is felt in Rabat where Parliament is examining a new proposal to reform the Penal Code and enshrine alternative measures to detention,for offenses punished with less than two years in custody.
