Council of Europe warns of overcrowding in Serbia's jails

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The Council of Europe (CoE) warned on Thursday that Serbian jails continue to be overcrowded and that the number of people on probation are low.

The CoE SPACE II 2019 report said that there were 105.6 inmates occupying 100 places in Serbian jails on April 15 which is slightly less than the 107 inmates per 100 places on January 1. Serbia is still ranked among the 10 countries whose jails have more inmates than capacities, the report said.  

The country also has the lowest rate of inmates released on probation, the report said specifying that there were 26 per 100,000 people. Serbia is also one of just seven countries with the lowest ratio of inmates to people on probation (156 inmates per 100,000 people).  

A total of 626 inmates or 5.7 percent were released during the coronavirus pandemic.