On 29 April 2024, Eurostat published statistics on prisoners and prison occupancy in 2022. According to the publication, there were 483,593 prisoners in the EU in 2022. This is equivalent to 108 prisoners per 100,000 people. In 2021, the prisoner rate was 106 prisoners per 100,000 people. The highest prisoner rates per 100,000 people in 2022 were in Hungary (200), Poland (190) and Czechia and Slovakia (both 181). The lowest rates were in Finland (52), the Netherlands (64) and Slovenia (65).  In Germany, the rate was 69.

11 EU Member States experienced overcrowded prison cells in 2022. The prison occupancy rate is the number of prisoners relative to the official capacity (design capacity) of prisons, multiplied by 100. Overcrowding occurs when the occupancy rate exceeds 100, indicating that there are more prisoners in the prison than it was designed to hold. According to the statistics, the highest overcrowding was observed in Cyprus with an occupancy rate of 226, France (119) and Belgium (118). The lowest prison occupancy rates were recorded in Malta (59), Estonia (62) and Latvia (67). No overcrowding was observed in Germany.

With regard to personnel statistics for police, courts and prisons in Europe, Eurostat concluded that the proportion of women as police officers, professional judges and prison personnel in the EU continued to increase in 2022. There were 341 police officers, 18 professional judges and 58 employees in adult prisons per 100,000 inhabitants in the EU on average over the 2020-2022 period.