Number of foreigners being held in Spain's prisons rockets by 16% in last four years

The number of foreigners being locked up behind bars in Spanish prisons has fallen by 35% in the past 15 years, the latest data shows. However, that trend is positive only when compared to 2009. The figures show that this trend has been reversed in the past four years and is now growing five times more among foreigners than among Spaniards.

The data from Spain's ministry of interior shows the number of foreigners being held in Spanish prisons has grown by 16% since 2020, when the decline of the previous decade was reversed, while Spaniards behind bars have increased by 3% in the same period. Foreign nationals now account for almost one in three inmates (31.4%), which triples their total presence in Spain, with 12.7% of registered inmates.

The foreign population in prison currently stands at 18,535 inmates, according to data from the general secretariat of penitentiary institutions as of 1 July this year, obtained by ABC. This is 2,617 more than four years ago, when they fell below 16,000 for the first and only time in the past 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 of Spaniards behind bars in the past four years is 1,140 (from 39,262 to 40,402), that of the foreign population is more than double in the same period.

Prisoners born outside Spain now account for 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 the same period, the foreign population has grown by 1.2 points, to 12.7%, according to Spain's INE (national statistics institute). The percentage of foreign inmates is therefore three times that of the total foreign population in Spain. While one in every thousand Spaniards is in prison, foreigners account for three in every thousand.

Despite the government's criticism of the right-wing, which it accuses of criminalising immigration, the percentage of the foreign prison population broke its downward trend of the previous decade and has grown steadily. Since 2018, it has increased by 12%, while Spaniards in prison have decreased by 5%. And it is that the increase in the proportion of foreigners has been sustained since 2018, when they accounted for 28.1% of the prison population, after a decade of decline during Rajoy's mandate, after reaching its peak in 2009 with 35.7% in Zapatero's stage.

The growth of the foreign prison population that year brought the total to an all-time high, with 76,079 inmates, 27,162 of them foreigners. The current minister for migration, Elma Saiz, pointed the finger at the "xenophobic discourse of the right wing" of criminalising immigration.

The differences between regions are notable, although they all have in common a higher proportion of foreigners in prison. In Catalonia, half of those imprisoned are foreigners, according to the statistics of the general council of the judiciary of 2023, three times more than their presence in the total population (17.6%). In Madrid, they account for 42%, while in Castilla y León, they account for 38%, five times more than their overall proportion (7.2%).

Even in the regions with the lowest percentage of foreign population, their numbers in prisons are high. In Extremadura the foreign population is 3.8% of the total and in prison it reaches 10%. And in Galicia it is 5.3% and 20%, respectively.

Morocco is the foreign nationality with the largest number of inmates at 5,471, which is 9.3% of the total prison population. The proportion of Moroccans in prison is almost five times higher than the proportion of Moroccans outside prison, since their presence in Spain, despite being the largest foreign community, only accounts for 1.9% of the total population.

One out of every three foreign prisoners is Moroccan, 29.5% of the prison population with a nationality other than Spanish, far behind the other countries with a greater presence in prisons. After Colombia registered 1,724 inmates, 9.3% of the foreign prison population, next is 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%).

Despite being among the countries with the highest total presence in Spanish prisons, Algeria, Dominican Republic, Albania, Senegal and Brazil are not among the ten nationalities with the highest total presence in Spain. That is to say, their proportion in prisons is much higher compared to their proportion in the total population.

While one out of every thousand Spaniards is in prison, four out of every thousand Colombians and six out of every thousand Moroccans are behind bars, according to the data. Nine out of every 1,000 Dominicans are in prison, 18 out of every 1,000 Algerians, and 86 out of every 1,000 Albanians are in prison. Albania is the most extreme case: there are 5,666 in total in Spain, 486 of whom are currently in prison.

The nationalities with the highest number of persons registered in Spain are Morocco, Romania, Colombia, Italy, United Kingdom, Venezuela, China, Ukraine, Peru and Honduras. Despite being among the countries with the highest total presence in Spain, Italy, United Kingdom, Venezuela, China, Ukraine and Honduras are not among the ten nationalities with the highest number of foreigners in Spanish prisons.

The presence of Italians, British, Venezuelans, Chinese and Ukrainians in prisons is proportionally lower than their total presence in Spain. The largest gaps between the proportions of presence in prison and outside prison between nationalities are with Germans and Americans in Spain.