Prisons hold fewer detainees
There were fewer prisoners in Swiss jails in 2007, three per cent less than in 2006, or a total of 5,715 people under lock and key.
The Federal Statistics Office said on Tuesday that the country’s prisons were 86 per cent full, with the vast majority of detainees being adult males. Women accounted for six per cent of the prison population, and teenagers one per cent.
On the office’s reference day – September 5 – 1,653 people were being held in detention. A further 3,586 were serving time, while 403 were waiting to be expelled from the country. The 73 others were being held for a variety of reasons.
Foreigners still represent a strong proportion of the prison population: they accounted for nearly 80 per cent of those in detention, and more than half of these people were in Switzerland illegally.
And foreign citizens accounted for nearly two-thirds of all detainees serving a prison sentence.
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