How many people are imprisoned in Switzerland?

Switzerland's prison population is 7,119 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 Switzerland?

Switzerland's incarceration rate is approximately 78 people per 100,000 population.

How many prisons are there in Switzerland?

World Prisons indexes 108 individual facilities in Switzerland. Each entry links to a detail page with contact information, capacity, oversight reports, and known conditions.

All countries

Europe · Western Europe

Switzerland

Q: Does Switzerland have the death penalty?

Switzerland'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 Jan 2026

Fresh · 2mo ago

Among the highest foreign-national shares in Europe. Operated at canton level.

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Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date.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

7,119

Year: 2026

Rate per 100,000

Per 100,000 residents

Occupancy

96.6%

At or under capacity

Pre-trial / remand

50.1%

Share not yet sentenced

Female prisoners

6.2%

Foreign nationals

73.6%

Figures from official sources · verified 20 May 2026 · methodology

Conditions risk — across 108 facilities

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

—

national average

108 unknown

abolitionist on capital punishment since 1992. Last known execution: 1944.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.

75 documented human-rights cases →

How Switzerland compares

vs Europe (16) & global averages

Rate per 100,000this: 78 · region: 110 · global: 214

Occupancy ratethis: 97% · region: 96% · global: 125%

Pre-trial sharethis: 50% · region: 26% · 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: 5,760+21.4% over 25y2025: 6,994

Source: World Prison Brief / unodc / eurostat / 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)

Mortality Rate
29per_100k_pa
2020 · source: who-hiped

Held

—

Etablissement du Simplon

Switzerland

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

etablissement ferme Curabilis

Switzerland · Puplinge

Type

—

Capacity

Held

—

etablissement ferme de la Brenaz

Switzerland · Puplinge

Type

—

Capacity

167

Held

—

Etablissement ouvert avec section fermee de Villars

Switzerland

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

See all 108 prisons in Switzerland →

Data completeness

100%

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

National population: 9,150,0002026
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: CHE

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). Switzerland — prison statistics. Retrieved July 21, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/countries/switzerland

Chicago

"Switzerland — prison statistics." World Prisons. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://worldprisons.com/countries/switzerland.

BibTeX

@misc{worldprisons-switzerland,
  author = {{World Prisons}},
  title = {Switzerland — prison statistics},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://worldprisons.com/countries/switzerland},
  urldate = {2026-07-21}
}