How many people are imprisoned in Poland?

Poland's prison population is 70,786 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 Poland?

Poland's incarceration rate is approximately 195 people per 100,000 population.

How many prisons are there in Poland?

World Prisons indexes 1,031 individual facilities in Poland. Each entry links to a detail page with contact information, capacity, oversight reports, and known conditions.

All countries

Europe · Eastern Europe

Poland

Q: Does Poland have the death penalty?

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

High confidence

Verified 20 May 2026 · Data dated 31 Mar 2026

Fresh · 2mo ago

Among the highest incarceration rates in the EU.

Compare Poland 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Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date.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

70,786

Year: 2026

Rate per 100,000

195

Per 100,000 residents

Occupancy

83.1%

At or under capacity

Pre-trial / remand

11.2%

Share not yet sentenced

Female prisoners

5.4%

Foreign nationals

4.1%

Figures from official sources · verified 20 May 2026 · methodology

Conditions risk — across 1031 facilities

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

—

national average

1031 unknown

abolitionist on capital punishment since 1997. Last known execution: 1988.ICCPR-OP2 (death-penalty abolition protocol): signatory

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

Source: Amnesty International + Cornell Death Penalty Worldwide.

243 documented human-rights cases →

How Poland compares

vs Europe (16) & global averages

Rate per 100,000this: 195 · region: 102 · global: 214

Occupancy ratethis: 83% · region: 97% · global: 125%

Pre-trial sharethis: 11% · region: 29% · 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: 70,544-2.0% over 25y2025: 69,137

Source: World Prison Brief / unodc / Council of Europe SPACE I

Health & mortality

Custodial mortality + prison-health indicators aggregated from national statistics offices, UCLA custodial mortality dataset, and Marshall Project COVID tracking.

Indicators (latest by source)

Tb Incidence
334count
2020 · source: who-hiped
Hcv Prevalence
227count
2020 · source: who-hiped
Mortality Rate
39.77per_100k_pa
2020 · source: who-hiped
Hiv Prevalence
33count
2020 · source: who-hiped

—

Held

—

See all 1,031 prisons in Poland →

Data completeness

90%

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

National population: 36,330,0002026
Source-verified: 20 May 2026
Source links: 2 cited

Sources

Direct citations for the figures on this page.

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

ISO 3166-1 alpha-3: POL

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). Poland — prison statistics. Retrieved July 20, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/countries/poland

Chicago

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

BibTeX

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

Conditions risk — across 1031 facilities

How Poland compares

Prison population over time

Health & mortality

Prisons in Poland

1st penitentiary facility in WrocÅaw

Abitzau concentration camp

Abramowice concentration camp

Adampol concentration camp

Adelnau concentration camp

Adlershorst concentration camp

Adlerweide concentration camp

Altdorf

Altdorf concentration camp

Alt Dzikow concentration camp

Altendorf concentration camp

Althammer concentration camp

Alt Latzig concentration camp

Alt Laube concentration camp

Amsee concentration camp

Andrichau concentration camp

Andrzejów concentration camp

Anhalt O/S concentration camp

Antonienhütte concentration camp

Arbeitserziehungslager Litzmannstadt

Arbeitshaus Schweidnitz

Arbeitslager Narvik

Arbeitslager Riese

areszt

Data completeness

Sources

Cite this page

Conditions risk — across 1031 facilities

How Poland compares

Prison population over time

Health & mortality

Prisons in Poland

1st penitentiary facility in WrocÅaw

Abitzau concentration camp

Abramowice concentration camp

Adampol concentration camp

Adelnau concentration camp

Adlershorst concentration camp

Adlerweide concentration camp

Altdorf

Altdorf concentration camp

Alt Dzikow concentration camp

Altendorf concentration camp

Althammer concentration camp

Alt Latzig concentration camp

Alt Laube concentration camp

Amsee concentration camp

Andrichau concentration camp

Andrzejów concentration camp

Anhalt O/S concentration camp

Antonienhütte concentration camp

Arbeitserziehungslager Litzmannstadt

Arbeitshaus Schweidnitz

Arbeitslager Narvik

Arbeitslager Riese

areszt

Data completeness

Sources

Cite this page

1st penitentiary facility in WrocÅaw

1st penitentiary facility in WrocÅaw