
Foreigners Dominate Swiss Prisons, Account For 67% Of Inmates
In 2023, 67% of Switzerland’s 9,297 prison inmates were foreign nationals, according to the Swiss Federal Statistical Office. The statistic highlights ongoing concerns about the impact of immigration on the country’s justice system.
Since the 1980s, the proportion of foreign prisoners in Switzerland has tripled. While the rate has stabilized in the past decade, the overall number of incarcerated individuals has risen significantly. The vast majority of prisoners, 90.6%, are men, with women making up only 9.4% of the total.
Many inmates are serving short sentences for minor offenses, such as petty theft. In some cases, offenders unable to pay fines are incarcerated, adding to the population. Foreign prisoners often come from non-EU countries, although Switzerland also hosts many European nationals.
Data from 2020 revealed that Algerians and Romanians were among the largest groups of foreign inmates. The breakdown for 2023 remains unclear, but the trend highlights the challenges of addressing crimes linked to foreign nationals.
The situation is not unique to Switzerland. In Germany, foreigners make up over half the prison population, imposing significant costs on taxpayers. The issue has sparked debates about immigration policies and their impact on public safety and national budgets.
Switzerland’s high rate of foreign prisoners raises questions about the effectiveness of integration efforts and the management of immigration. As the country grapples with these challenges, the justice system remains under pressure from rising incarceration rates.