Armenia is among the countries with a low number of prisoners

According to the Council of Europe’s annual criminal statistics (SPACE) report, Armenia is ranked among the countries with the lowest number of prisoners. Thus, it is noted that there are 75 prisoners per 100.000 people in Armenia, which is significantly lower than the European average of 103.2. According to the report, as of January 1, 2020, the total number of convicts per 2.959.694 inhabitants in Armenia was 2.221, including 8 prisoners of special category. Moreover, Armenia is among the countries with the largest decrease in the number of prisoners.

The report also referred to women prisoners. It is mentioned that in Armenia, children under the age of 3 are allowed to be with their mothers, but it is mentioned that none of the 69 women prisoners have children under 3 years old. The report also states that in Armenia 10.8% of convicts are sentenced to more than 20 years in prison and 0.8% to less than 1 year.

It is also reported that there are 155 foreign prisoners in Armenia, 6 of which are citizens of the EU member states. The report states that people are prosecuted starting from the age of 14-16. In 2019 the total budget of the penitentiary institution was 16.160.449 euros. The average daily cost per convict was 18.8 euros, which is a significant increase compared to 13.5 euros in 2018, but significantly lower than the European average of 64.4 euros.