Each prisoner in Croatia costs the government €56.6 a day, the Vecernji List daily said earlier this week.

The newspaper said that only nine out of 40-odd European countries have a shorter average duration of stay in prison than Croatia’s 5.5. months, which puts Croatia, along with 14 other countries, well below the European average.

In Croatia, the proportion of detainees awaiting trial is 33.6%, and this proportion is larger in 13 countries.

Croatia spends €56.56 per prisoner per day (17 countries spend less), while the budget for the prison system was €78 million in 2021.

Ukraine spent the least, €2.6 per prisoner per day, and Norway and Sweden the most, €378 and €322 respectively. The European average was €116.7 and the median was €81.41.

Turkey has the toughest criminal laws in Europe, while Croatia is among the countries with the most lenient criminal laws, behind Switzerland, Iceland, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic.

According to Vecernji List’s calculation, a total of 981,013 people (detainees and prisoners) were imprisoned in Europe last year, of whom 303,945 (31%) in Turkey.