How many people are imprisoned in India?

India's prison population is 511,542 people. This figure aggregates all forms of detention counted by the source: sentenced prisoners, pre-trial detainees, and administrative detentions.

What is the incarceration rate in India?

India's incarceration rate is approximately 36 people per 100,000 population.

How many prisons are there in India?

World Prisons indexes 1,739 individual facilities in India. Each entry links to a detail page with contact information, capacity, oversight reports, and known conditions.

All countries

Asia · Southern Asia

India

Q: Does India have the death penalty?

India's death-penalty status is: retentionist. Seeded from Amnesty International 2024 categorisation + Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide.

High confidence

Verified 20 May 2026 · Data dated 31 Dec 2024

Fresh · 2mo ago

Roughly three quarters of inmates are undertrials. National Crime Records Bureau publishes a comprehensive 'Prison Statistics India' annual.

Compare India World Prison Brief page

Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date. Always verify with primary sources before acting on any figure. See data sources.

Prison population

511,542

Year: 2024

Rate per 100,000

Per 100,000 residents

Occupancy

112.7%

Above design capacity

Pre-trial / remand

72.6%

Share not yet sentenced

Female prisoners

4.1%

Foreign nationals

1.5%

Figures from official sources · verified 20 May 2026 · methodology

Conditions risk — across 1739 facilities

Average of our computed Conditions Risk Score across the country's facilities. Methodology · Browse highest-risk

33/100

national average

1 moderate 1738 unknown

retentionist on capital punishment. Last known execution: 2020.Methods: hangingICCPR-OP2 (death-penalty abolition protocol): not a signatory

Seeded from Amnesty International 2024 categorisation + Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide.

Source: Amnesty International + Cornell Death Penalty Worldwide.

3 documented human-rights cases →

How India compares

vs Asia (16) & global averages

Rate per 100,000this: 36 · region: 173 · global: 214

Occupancy ratethis: 113% · region: 151% · global: 125%

Pre-trial sharethis: 73% · region: 30% · global: 32%

The vertical ticks mark the global (grey) and regional (amber) means. Bars are clipped at the high end for readability.

Prison population over time

Annual figures, latest survey year

2000: 272,079+110.7% over 22y2022: 573,220

Source: World Prison Brief / unodc / ncrb-psi

Reform in India

All reform →

Laws, programmes, and pilots changing how India incarcerates — plus relevant research.

Section 479 BNSS â release of long-detained undertrials2024–ongoing
pre trial detention · active
Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) Section 479, in force from July 2024, requires release of undertrial prisoners who have served one-third of the maximum sentence for non-capital offences (one-half for first-time offenders).

Held

—

Arthur Road Jail

India

Maximum

Type

—

Capacity

800

Held

—

Asansol District Correctional Home

India

Type

District correctional home

Capacity

204

Held

—

Atapati Open Colony

India · Atapati

Type

Open colony

Capacity

—

Held

—

Athagarh Jail

India

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

Athmallik Jail

India

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

avanigadda jail

India

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

See all 1,739 prisons in India →

Data completeness

100%

Score based on how many fields are populated. We surface this so you know where the gaps are.

National population: 438,700,0002024
Source-verified: 20 May 2026
Source links: 1 cited

Sources

Direct citations for the figures on this page.

Primary reference
World Prison Brief (ICPS, Birkbeck) — Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research
See /data-sources for our methodology.

ISO 3166-1 alpha-3: IND

Cite this page

Under CC-BY-4.0. Include the URL and access date; the site is a living reference and entries can change.

APA

World Prisons. (2026). India — prison statistics. Retrieved July 20, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/countries/india

Chicago

"India — prison statistics." World Prisons. Accessed July 20, 2026. https://worldprisons.com/countries/india.

BibTeX

@misc{worldprisons-india,
  author = {{World Prisons}},
  title = {India — prison statistics},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://worldprisons.com/countries/india},
  urldate = {2026-07-20}
}