Methodology - Prisons

Data on data on persons in custody, persons, persons serving a sentence of imprisonment or persons in a security detention are obtained from General Directorate of the Prison Service of the CR.

Data for international comparison within the European Union are collected from national authorities through the annual United Nations Crime Trends Survey (UN-CTS) in cooperation of Eurostat and UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime).

Data about number of prisoners are as at 31 December of a given year. 

The number of prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants is calculated only from persons older than 15 years, i.e. persons criminally responsible. 

Criminal acts are recorded according to the TSK (Tactical-statistical classification) of the Police of the Czech Republic, which partially overlaps with the Criminal Code. Definitions of individual crimes and their inclusion in the TSK and the Criminal Code can be found here.

Accused persons - natural persons against whom a legal action was brought. Based on the court's decision, the accused may then be placed in custody.  

Convicted person – a natural person ruled guilty and sentenced by the court, when the sentence has already come into force and he/she is serving a sentence of imprisonment. 

Inmate – a person in a security detention. Security detention is a special institution which is guarded by the Prison Service in the Czech Republic. The aim is to protect society from particularly dangerous, mentally ill persons (or from persons abusing addictive substances), for whom protective treatment cannot fulfil its purpose. 

Prisoners – the total number of persons placed in prisons in the Czech Republic (prison population). Sum of convicted persons, accused persons an inmates.