Intersection with poverty

As a combined result of policies targeting certain groups, discriminatory policing practices, and severe punishments meted out to people of colour or of foreign origin, the judicial and penal systems together send certain categories of people to prison more than others.

A high proportion of prisoners are young, poor, in poor health, lacking formal education and sometimes illiterate, and they are from ethnic, linguistic or religious minorities. This reality holds true in all parts of the world.

People of African descent are more likely to be incarcerated in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Italy and Portugal. In the United States, Black people are five times more likely than White people to end up in prison. One out of every 81 Black men is in prison.

In Australia, about 30% of those in prison are indigenous people, though they represent only 3.3% of the national population. The statistics for Canada are similar. In New Zealand, the Māoris and other minorities constitute 15% of the country’s population, but they represent 50% of all men and over 70% of all women in prison. For the same crime, Māoris are at greater risk of being sent to prison and receiving a more severe sentence than any other citizen.

In France, one out of every three prisoners holds no diploma. Many are incarcerated while they have neither a job nor housing.

In prisons, 70% of those incarcerated consider themselves affected by poverty. They cannot afford the cost of living. In prison, everything costs money: toiletries, toilet paper, hygienic protections, TV rentals, refrigerator rentals. The average monthly bill comes to around 200 euros.

Prisoners who are unable read or write risk punishment. They are more likely not to understand the rules and are not positioned to make requests or lodge complaints. In the UK, one half of the incarcerated population is illiterate. In the United States, this proportion reaches 75%, and even 85% among the youngest people in prison.