A special reference to our country – specifically regarding the characteristics of the prison population – was included in today’s speech by Donald Trump in New York, during the 80th Session of the General Assembly of the UN.
“According to the Council of Europe, in 2024 almost 50% of inmates in German prisons were foreign nationals or migrants. In Austria, the number was 53%. In Greece, 54%. In Switzerland, 72%. When your prisons fill up with so-called asylum seekers who repay kindness with crime, it’s time to end the failed experiment of open borders. You must end it now,” the US President stated at one point in his speech, being particularly critical of the immigration policy followed by European countries.
Ministry of Citizen Protection: “55% are foreign nationals”
Since July 2019, responsibility for correctional facilities has transferred from the Ministry of Justice to the Ministry of Citizen Protection, which we contacted. “According to our data, 55% of inmates in Greek prisons are foreign nationals. Mainly: Albanians, Algerians, Moroccans, Afghans, Pakistanis, Turks, Iraqis and Georgians,” sources from Katechaki highlight to parapolitika.
Indeed, according to the latest published Eurostat data, in 2023 one in five inmates in the European Union held foreign citizenship in the country of reference. In EU countries, the percentage of inmates with foreign citizenship in the country of reference (20.6%) was almost the same as the 2022 percentage (20.4%). The percentage of inmates with foreign citizenship varies among the 27 member states. The highest percentage was observed in Luxembourg (75.7%), followed by Greece (54.3%) and Cyprus (56.7%). The lowest percentage was recorded in Romania (1.1%), followed by Bulgaria (2.9%) and Latvia (3.5%).
The latest official data from the General Secretariat of Anti-Crime Policy shows that today the number of inmates in all prisons in Greece is cumulatively 12,926. This means that in Greek correctional facilities there are behind bars a total of approximately 7,000 foreign nationals and 6,000 Greeks.
