How many people are incarcerated in Romania’s prisons and why are they in there?

The number of people locked into Romanian prisons went down by 10% in 2014, compared to 2013, official data from the Romanian National Administration of Penitentiaries (ANP) shows. A little over 30,000 people were in Romanian jails at the end of December 2014, compared to more than 33,400 in December 2013. Almost 27,000 of those were serving final prison sentences, 2,500 were under preventive arrest and waiting for trial, and 600 were hospitalised. Nearly half of the people incarcerated (some 14,500) were there for crimes against property, such as theft or robbery, and a third (9,800) were serving time for crimes against people, such as murder or assault. A little over 2,000 prisoners were guilty of sexual offences, and almost 1,500 were there for drug trafficking or consumption. Only 311 people were in jail for corruption and crimes against the state, and 444 were convicted for organised crime. There were also 48 people incarcerated for offences relating to e-commerce, ANP statistics show. More than half of the 27,000 final convictions were short-term (1 to 5 years), some 10,000 were medium-term (5 to 15 years) and 2,600 were long-term (over 15 years). The number of convicts serving life sentences was 161. In terms of age, almost 40% of the convicts were under 30. The number of foreigners incarcerated in Romania was 253, of whom 46 were Turks, 29 were Moldavians and 18 were Italians. A little over 11,000 convicts were released on parole last year, 7% more than in 2013. Romania has 45 prisons and detention centers, of which 16 are maximum security prisons. The legal capacity of these prisons, considering an average of 4 sqm for each convict is a little under 19,000 places. The overcrowded prisons and the improper detention conditions brought 29 decisions against Romania in the Human Rights Court in Strasbourg. The state had to pay EUR 196,000 worth of damages in these cases, down from EUR 223,000 in 2013. The state paid some EUR 213 million in 2014 for penitentiaries, 3% more than in 2013. Two-thirds of these were personnel expenses. editor@romania-insider.com