Housing convicted offenders costs money. Across countries, they need food and medical care. Added to this are the maintenance of prisons, personnel costs and, depending on the country, possible wages for work carried out by inmates during imprisonment. Our data on escape security and prisoner rates show the clear differences between European countries. What about the costs, which country spends a lot of money on its prisoners, and where is money being saved?

The most money flows in the North per day

To start, let’s look at which country in the EU spent the most money on its prisoners in 2022.

Luxembourg leads the list with 377 euros per day per head, followed by Sweden with 321 euros and the Netherlands with 307 euros. Luxembourg’s total budget in 2022 was 92 million euros. In total expenditure, France ranks first with 3.3 billion euros and Italy follows in second place.

In contrast, the figures from Romania seem completely absurd. A number of prisoners is not mentioned there, but the total expenditure in 2022 was close to 350 million euros at daily costs of 41.91 euros per head.

However, the data regarding the annual total expenditure has a gap – in most cases, the information on the number of people incarcerated in 2022 is missing. Dividing the total expenditure by the daily rate is not purposeful, as the underlying study by the University of Lausanne in cooperation with the Council of Europe distinguishes between prisoners with final sentences and those who have not yet been legally convicted.

Where are incarceration costs lowest?

Stereotypical thinking might lead to the assumption that the costs for imprisoning people are lowest in the Balkans and Eastern Europe.
This assumption, as the following table shows, is not entirely wrong.

The European median was 106 euros per day, the average 131.50 euros. Those who miss the current figures from Germany in our statistics must complain to the Ministry of Justice. No data was provided from Berlin for the above-mentioned study. In 2021, the Federal Republic spent 166 euros daily per prisoner.

What about Europe outside the EU?

Due to the extremely exciting figures in the non-EU states, we don’t want to withhold these.

San Marino spends 523.88 euros per prisoner per day on incarceration. The total budget for detention in 2022 for 145 prisoners was 191,218.83 euros.

Those who think France and Italy have immense annual expenditures must be taught better by looking at figures from Great Britain for 2022. With an also unknown number of inmates and daily expenses of 163.46 euros per capita, England and Wales together amount to nearly 4.9 billion euros and are thus the absolute leaders in Europe.

Let’s come back to the daily rates. Norway “invests” 373 euros and ranks third in Europe. Liechtenstein follows with 305.10 euros per capita daily in fourth place.

Azerbaijan managed with 8.24 euros per prisoner in 2022. In Turkey, it was 12.45 euros and in Georgia 15.30 euros. Admittedly, these figures are somewhat frightening in terms of humane prison sentences.

Will there be cost explosions in incarceration expenditures?

It is undisputed that rising food costs and expenses for medical care will also lead to cost increases in the penal system. The same applies to salary increases in the public sector or rising material costs in construction for renovations and refurbishments. Ultimately, it depends on the importance given to correctional facilities in the respective country. If a humane standard is to be maintained, costs will naturally increase. If the justice system assumes that only the bare necessities need to be provided for incarcerated individuals, costs in these countries will rise more slowly.