The number of foreigners in prison has increased by 16% since 2020, compared to 3% for Spaniards

According to data from the same ministry, foreigners andin Spanish prisons have increased by 16% since 2020, when the decline of the previous decade was reversed, while Spaniards in prison have increased by 3% in the same period. Thus, foreigners now represent almost one in three prisoners in general (31.4%), tripling their total presence in Spain, with 12.7% of registered prisoners.

The foreign population in prison currently stands at 18,535 inmates, according to data from the General Secretariat of Penitentiary Institutions as of July 1 of this year, obtained by ABC through a petition addressed to Transparency Portal. There are 2,617 more than four years ago, when they fell below 16,000 for the first and only time in the last two decades. The growth of the foreign prison population is much faster, not only in percentage terms, but also in total terms. While the increase in the number of Spaniards behind bars in the last four years is 1,140 (from 39,262 to 40,402), that of the foreign population has more than doubled in the same period, to around 2,600.

Prisoners born outside Spain now represent 31.4% of the total, 2.6 points more than four years ago. This is not simply an increase linked to the growth of the immigrant population in general. At the same time, the foreign population has increased by 1.2 points, reaching the 12.7% mentioned above. according to the INE. The percentage of foreign prisoners is therefore three times that of the total foreign population in Spain. While one in a thousand Spaniards is in prison, in the case of foreigners there are three.

5% fewer nationalities

Despite the government’s criticism of the right, which it accuses of criminalizing immigration, coinciding with the arrival of Sánchez in Moncloa and Marlaska in the interior in 2018, the percentage of the foreign prison population has broken with the downward trend of the previous decade and has increased steadily. Since 2018, it has increased by 12%, while the number of Spaniards in prison has decreased by 5%. And the increase in the proportion of foreigners has been sustained since 2018, when they represented the 28.1% of the prison populationafter a decade of decline during Rajoy’s term, having peaked in 2009 with 35.7% under Zapatero.

The growth of the foreign prison population brought the total to its historical maximum that year, with 76,079 prisoners, of whom 27,162 were foreigners. The current Minister of Migration, Elma Saiz (PSOE), did not hesitate a few days ago to accuse the “xenophobic speeches of the right” of criminalizing immigration.

The differences between communities are notable, although they all have in common a higher proportion of foreigners in prison than in freedom. In Catalonia, half of those incarcerated are foreigners, according to statistics from the General Council of the Judiciary of 2023, three times more than its presence in the total population (17.6%). In Madrid, they are 42%, almost triple their total weight (15.5%). In Castile and León, they represent 38%, five times more than their general proportion (7.2%), the greatest difference of all regions. Even in the autonomies where the percentage of foreign population is lower, their proportion in prison multiplies their demographic weight. In Extremadura, the foreign population represents 3.8% of the total and in prison it reaches 10%. And in Galicia, it is 5.3% and 20% respectively.

Majority of Moroccans

Morocco Foreign nationality has the largest number of prisoners, 5,471, or 9.3% of the total prison population. The proportion of Moroccans in prison is almost five times higher than the proportion of Moroccans at large, since their presence in Spain, despite being the largest community, only represents 1.9% of the total registered population.

One in three foreign prisoners is Moroccan, with 29.5% of the prison population having a nationality other than Spanish, far removed from the rest of the countries with a greater presence in prisons. Colombia (1,724 prisoners, 9.3% of the foreign prison population), Romania (1,371, 7.4%), Algeria (1,236, 6.7%), Dominican Republic (607, 3.3%), Ecuador (603, 3.3%), Albania (486, 2.6%), Peru (462, 2.5%) and Senegal (397, 2.1%) complete the ten nationalities most present in Spanish prisons.

Although they are among the countries with the highest total presence in Spanish prisons, Algeria, the Dominican Republic, Albania, Senegal and Brazil are not among the ten nationalities with the highest total presence in Spain. In other words, their proportion in prison is much higher than their proportion in the total population.

Albanians, an extreme case

So, while one in a thousand Spaniards is in prison, four in a thousand Colombians and six in a thousand Moroccans are in prison. they are behind bars. In the case of Dominicans, nine out of a thousand are imprisoned, Algerians 18 out of a thousand and Albanians 86 out of a thousand are in prison. Albania is the most extreme case: there are 5,666 in total in Spain, of which 486 are currently in prison.

The most numerous nationalities Among those registered in Spain are Morocco, Romania, Colombia, Italy, the United Kingdom, Venezuela, China, Ukraine, Peru and Honduras. Although they are among the countries with the largest total presence in Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, Venezuela, China, Ukraine and Honduras are not among the ten nationalities with the highest occupancy rate in Spanish prisons.

The presence of Italians, British, Venezuelans, Chinese and Ukrainians in prisons is proportionally lower than their total presence in Spain. The greatest distances between the proportions of presence in prison and freedom between nationalities exists among Germans and Americans residing in Spain.